The Star Hegemony
by RahXephon
Summary: After Voldemort, the Dark Lord Harry nearly destroyed the magical society after a century of war over the Hallows, only to fail and be transported to an alien Batarian slave camp in space. From the shattered remnants of the Systems Alliance, will Harry be able to save humanity, or doom it even further? Space Sci-Fi, Alternate Universe, Dark!Harry, mature content, crossover.
1. Part I: A Batarian Greeting

September 26, 2012  
Proofread on November 28, 2012  
Proofread by CodeGeassAddict [2686493]  
Written by RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** I got bored with _The Star Alliance_, so I'm starting a new work that will hopefully keep my interest. It is a bit closer in nature to _The Star Empire_, although I will be extra conscious that it will not stray beyond the M-rating.

**WARNING:** This fic contains distasteful violence and vague descriptions of extremely unpleasant acts. This fic is meant for adults, and not for the weak-minded.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Mass effect. This is a fan-based work and I derive no income from this writing.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_A Batarian Greeting_

* * *

Hero. Savior. Chosen One. Harry Potter was known by many names, many of which he never wanted. Yet the Wizarding World, in their superstitious bouts, kept adding more and more names to the young befuddled wizard. Basilisk Slayer. Tri-Wizard Champion. And the Vanquisher, for defeating the menace known as Voldemort.

After spending a lifetime of tortuous conflict and horror, the adolescent hero hoped that his tale had finally ended, and that fate was finally satisfied by the sacrifices he had made.

But Harry Potter was wrong. Oh-so painfully wrong.

As his life went on, his scars remained. The nightmares and guilt that continued to torment the haunted hero split apart his marriage. His miraculous feats combined with his everlasting fame caused him to hide away from the world as we know it. But in the end, it proved his downfall. If he thought his days of acquiring titles left and right was over, he had another thing coming.

It started when Harry visited the Burrow after his latest Floo calls went unanswered. What he encountered was enough for him to expel the contents of his stomach.

The first body he encountered was George, his neck twisted cruelly to his back. His mouth was agape in surprise. He probably never realized the danger he was in, since his wand remained quietly in his pocket, forgotten and cold.

As Harry eventually recovered from the gruesome sight, he drew his wand and crept inside the house from the back. As soon as the door squeaked open, he met the second victim, Molly. From the burning and overflowing pans, it appeared she was just in the middle of cooking supper when the surprise barged through. Though the signs showed that she put up a hefty struggle, she proved to be no match against the assailants when she lost her wand, along with the rest of the arm that held the weapon. After being literally disarmed, the intruders evidently threw a quick blasting curse at her face, pulverizing the skin and splintering the skull. Bits of brain tissue were still dripping out of Molly's ruined façade.

After making sure that the Burrows was secure, Harry collapsed on the front porch and let out his emotions. Even after the horrors of Voldemort's reign of terror, he could never get used to the atrocities. The fresh sight of bodies overtook his emotions. Only Bill and Charlie, who had long moved out, escaped the carnage. As for the rest of the Pureblood family, well, at least it was over.

Percy, despite his stuffiness, proved to be a Weasley to the end. Yet seeing him disemboweled and hanging from his own intestines made Harry regret that he never truly reconciled with the bright and promising man. Ron, a loyal friend to the end, even if there were some bumps in the road, had his eyes poked out and his favorite Quidditch broom stuffed right down his throat, through the stomach, until the tip of the sports broom ripped out of his backside.

All of these atrocities paled in comparison to what had happened to Ginny.

'_Oh god,'_ Harry thought as the tears readily streamed from his grieving eyes, _'She didn't deserve all of this.'_

The assailants spared the best for last. First, they tore off her clothes. Since the feisty redhead didn't go down quietly, the criminals evidently burned her hands to ashes, preventing her from using her wand any further. Then, heedless of propriety, they held her down, beat her mercilessly with their fists, and tortured her mercilessly with countless minor jinxes as they had their fill of her orifices. Harry scarcely wanted to remember the abomination that was left of what used to be Ginny. He only hoped she died peacefully in the end, though all evidence pointed towards the opposite.

Even as Harry picked himself up and investigated the cause of these events, more and more of his friends were struck. With increasingly gruesome fantasies, everyone from Hermione to Professor McGonagall fell victim to these indecipherable attackers. While the men at least met a fairly swift death, the women on the other hand were not so fortunate. The people who did this weren't criminals. They were beasts. Creatures to be hunted... and put down. And Harry was on the hunt.

As the deaths slowly permeated throughout society, so did the hysteria. The public, in their usual sheep-like manner, began to question any number of unsubstantiated theories. Fed by the sensationalist Daily Prophet, the increasingly manic witches and wizards soon learned of one, common thread to all of the deaths: the victims were all related to Harry Potter.

The conclusion was forgone in their minds. Harry Potter was a murderer. A monster. A pervert. Even as the Boy-Who-Lived tried to brush off the wild accusations, the Wizarding World continued to lap up the crazy stories. It didn't help that Harry refused to show any restraint once he found his first few leads to the conspiracy.

The bumbling wizard Harry finally caught was a nobody. A gopher. A disposable footsoldier. Yet he was part of the plot, and therefore just as guilty as the hitwizards who committed the crimes. After applying a somewhat creative interrogation, Harry finally deposited the half-mad and heavily bleeding suspect to the Aurors. A few days later, the criminal died despite the furious efforts of the healers of St. Mungo's.

While the poor fellow didn't have much to say, the few contacts he worked for proved to be more fruitful. As Harry slowly explored the hierarchy, he eventually uncovered the true reason for their madness.

This was the moment when Harry thought that the title of Master of Death would come back to haunt him. The dark wizards wanted to pry the Deathly Hallows from his broken soul. Knowing that they couldn't match the killer of Voldemort in an even battle, they intended to slowly weaken his support structure. By wiping out his allies while isolating him further from society, they could slowly drive Harry mad. It was a cunning and devious plan and one where Harry was utterly helpless to prevent. By the time he learned the full plan, the Daily Prophet had already done their marvelous job.

By now, the few allies Harry had left had all gone into hiding. Despite his pleas for assistance, they all turned him down, afraid of catching more attention. Friendless, Harry held up his shoulders and ceased asking for help. He was done with the Wizarding World. If they wanted to be his enemy, then so be it. He ignored the public, the Ministry and the Aurors and unleashed his full might on the conspirators. He started to interrogate not only the conspirators themselves, but also their spouses, and soon widened his net to aunts, uncles, sons and daughters.

The body count went through the roof while the horrors multiplied. Harry stopped holding himself back. Why should he hold on to his morals when his enemies had none? Soon he lowered himself to the level of his pursuers, doing things like cutting off their toes and feeding them back to their owners. It wasn't just about gathering information anymore. Harry just wanted payback. The more screams the better. And if his prisoners finally begged the cold wizard to end their lives, Harry would laugh at their face and prolong the pain for at least another day, if not more.

The women were especially delectable when he could get his hands on them. Harry couldn't help it, of course. He was a growing man, and having a woman connected to the conspiracy meant he couldn't let up his routine just because they were of the opposite sex. Hell, he could even kill two birds with one stone by exacting punishment on the screaming and sobbing mothers and maidens while simultaneously relieving his stress. After finally overcoming his reticence and his guilt at this last act of violation, Harry went about it with an addicted relish. The activity turned out to be so pleasurable that he didn't dispose of his soiled victims like he did with their husbands or fathers.

Rather, he kept the most attractive alive, and imprisoned them in one of the countless hideouts he possessed throughout the British Isles. While the victims spent most days in quiet solitude, the few times Harry returned to the hideout would repeat their agony again and again until Harry's formidable magically-enhanced libido was expended. Sometimes, Harry went a little overboard, and the bruised and bloodied females couldn't be revived.

'_Oh well,'_ he would always think as he dumped the bodies into the ocean, _'There's plenty of other girls to hold my attention.'_

As Harry's coterie of prisoners increased, so did the public's anxiety over his vigilantism. While a handful of diehard fans remained, even they were forced to abandon their worship of the Boy-Who-Lived as the Aurors accidentally encountered one of his safe houses.

The Daily Prophet had a field day when the details leaked from a Ministry that was already unsympathetic to the former hero. As far as Rita Skeeter and the other reporters are concerned, they felt vindicated. As the stories of sexual torture and exploitation continued to filter through an already hostile public, their patience has finally run out. Harry Potter was officially wanted.

While the original conspirators slowly diminished in size, scope and influence, Harry increasingly began to clash with the Aurors and other Ministry personnel. While he hadn't intended to direct his ire to the magical government, it was natural for him to make the transition. Soon enough he began to target the most corrupt Aurors. Then he expanded his hunt to all of the Aurors. Eventually, every witch and wizard was his enemy.

'_How did it come down to this?'_ Harry would wonder whenever the remnants of his conscience would filter through his revenge-addled mind. _'Why am I fighting against innocent people?'_

Yet these doubts were soon wiped out as he began to recall how much the backwards people hated him. None of them had any appreciation for his efforts to save their society. He fought so hard so _long_, sacrificing much of his teenage years, losing many friends and all for what, mere bigotry and hatred? Well Harry could punch back just as hard.

'_If they are too stupid to appreciate my efforts, then they aren't worthy of being saved anymore.'_

While Harry clouded some of his activities with excuses like trying to save the muggles, deep down the hero-turned-villain knew he just wanted to kill them all because they wouldn't leave him alone. Only by destroying the Wizarding World in its entirety would he finally be rid of their ceaseless hounding.

In the end, he came close. As a century passed, and as the Deathly Hallows continued to maintain his adolescent youth, he obtained the key to absolute victory. After torturing the world's most eminent magical researchers and mystics, all of them female of course, the now unquestionable Dark Lord puzzled the disparate pieces into a harmonic whole that could only be described as pure, elegant beauty.

'_So that's it. That's how magic exists. That's why the Hallows exist.'_

Grinning madly, Harry soon concocted a plan and enacted it with deathly efficiency born out of many decades of guerilla warfare. He stole precious artifacts. He sabotaged many facilities. And all the while, he exhorted his army of slaves – some of the women living more than half a century under Harry's boot – into enchanting the essential components of their own downfall.

When the Machine – for Harry didn't bother to name the incredibly complex contraption – finally had its last empowered pieces fit in, the Dark Lord apparated to the place that started it all.

Hogwarts. Well, the broken ruins that still remained standing after Harry unleashed a swathe of destruction on the venerable castle whilst slaying as many children he could get his hands on. Decades later, the fallen castle was never rebuilt, but still retained much of the potent ambient magic that continued to feed on the ley-lines that cross the enchanted location.

Even as the remaining battle-hardened Aurors and their international colleagues got wind of Harry's plan, their attempts to pierce through the incredibly thick shield that the Machine emanated failed spectacularly. As the powerful witches and wizards continued to bombard the shell with heavier and darker spells, they failed to realize that all of their efforts merely fed the hungry Machine and charged up its reserves. When the swirl of magic soon came close to overflowing, Harry pulled the trigger.

The Wizarding World died. So did Hogwarts, and everyone else in the vicinity. Only scraps of clothes and bones survived from the wizards who stood the furthest away from the Machine. The ones who were closest to the dome were evidently vaporized into ashes, and those ashes were obliterated from existence.

As magic soon began to die, killing off the goblins, vampires, and many other magical creatures, any trace of Harry Potter disappeared. It was believed that he perished from the gigantic explosion along with all of the other Aurors.

They were wrong.

* * *

"Wake up, new guy!"

A harsh slap rudely ripped Harry from his dreamless sleep. As his turbulent mind began to process his tangled memories, his enchanted eyes fell upon the rough and bearded fellow who pulled the wizard from his rest.

"You'll pay for that, you worm." Harry ominously said as his fingers started to scrabble for his Elder Wand…

…Only to grasp empty pockets. Panicked, Harry opened his eyes wider and saw that instead of the enchanted battle robes he normally wore, he now wore a flimsy muggle worker outfit. The orange pants and white shirt stank incredibly like sweat that was definitely not of his own. "What in the name of Merlin?!"

Before Harry could contemplate this change, a meaty fist planted in his face, causing him to see stars. Without his protective charms, his body was as frail as any muggle. _'Damnit, I was too complacent.'_ Harry thought as he nursed his face as he continued to glare upon the large intruder. _'If only if I studied more rituals.'_

"You'll learn not to talk back to me soon enough, kid." The man said, and turned on his heels. "Now get out of your damn cot and assemble at the mine."

'_The mine?'_ Harry wondered absently as he drew himself up from his cot – to call it a bed would be a travesty – and studied the tiny cell he had ended up. The bare metal walls were not totally smooth. Rather, they were ribbed with pipes, and other things that he had no idea what they were for. Much of the exterior had a light coating of rust, and the general state of the room left the wizard no doubt that this place was old. Half a century at least, if not more.

Besides his cot, there was a small hole in the floor that Harry figured was the toilet, and a sink that probably doubled as his tap water. As Harry limbered to his feet and began to wash his face, he spat out the foul taste of the rank liquid that flowed down the tap. _'This is practically poison!'_

Having barely any clue what was going on, Harry scowled at his sink in disgust and firmly stepped out of the cell. Hopefully he would bump into a cafeteria soon and get some decent grub. _'At least this prison doesn't look magical. Did I fall unconscious after the deed? Did the machine rob me of my magic? It would explain how I ended up in a muggle prison. They could have at least let me witness my own trial, though.'_

There were a few jarring sights, to be sure. The architecture was not quite as.. expected of what he knew of muggle prisons in the twenty-second century. Strange lights, odd corners and occasional machines of indecipherable purpose met his curious eyes. When he stopped to touch the metal wall, he couldn't figure out what metal or alloy it was made of. _'And who the heck builds metal walls?'_

Harry passed by many cells, and more and more men began to join his aimless journey to the end of the hall. None of them were as confused as the wizard. Instead, their eyes were weary. Despite the increasingly crowded hall, none of them struck up a conversation.

After a few twists and turns, Harry reached a large chamber filled with industrial equipment. While it was immediately apparent that the large man wasn't joking that this was a mine, the tools looked strange and unfamiliar. These weren't the drills, pickaxes and other crude tools he had been expecting. Their design was utterly unfamiliar to Harry, though their function was abundantly clear.

'_Oh Merlin, do these fucking muggles expect me to operate a muggle device? And for how long?'_

As the crowd of men began to fill the chamber, they automatically filed into neat rows. Harry went with the flow and took a random position in the back. _'No sense attracting attention.'_

Then he received the major surprise of the day.

Expecting a tough, grizzled warden to step to the front, Harry was utterly baffled as some strangely armored _monster_ hovered into the chamber atop a hovering platform. _'What the hell is that four-eyed thing?! And how the hell is he able to levitate that platform?'_

Despite the utterly alien sight in front of them, none of the human laborers kick up a storm. As Harry tried to pin the creature down as a demon, magical creature or eldritch abomination, the figure spoke up in a loud, warbling voice that was obviously artificially translated by some device.

"About time you pinkskins showed up, you slow-pokes! Even my great-great grandfather can crawl faster than you sorry lot!"

After a few minutes of mindless insults, Harry slowly adjusted to the fact that he might not be in the right dimension. _'Did the Machine malfunction? Merlin-damnit, I shouldn't have trusted my slaves so much with the production. They sabotaged it somehow.'_

Without his wand, ring, or cloak, he was as defenseless as a muggle. Even though he didn't want to tolerate the indignity of manual labor, he saw no choice but to play along. _'Whatever this alternate Earth is, I doubt the Hallows will stay missing for long. They always have a habit of crawling back whenever I get sick of them and throw them away.'_

Early on in his career as a budding Dark Lord, Harry had tried to surrender to conspirators by leaving behind the Hallows. Yet it soon turned out that none of them could be taken from him while he was still alive. As the three Hallows were reunited once again, only the true Master of Death was worthy enough to wield their powers. And the only way for someone else to become the Master of Death was to kill the current title holder.

Harry quickly gave up on surrendering once he found out that gruesome fact.

"Now," The four-eyed alien continued with his speech. "Some of you might have wiped enough dirt from your eyes to see you have some new colleagues. They're freshly captured from one of your race's remaining escape ships, so show them the ropes if you hope to meet your quota. You all know the penalty for failing to meet the quota."

A shiver ran through most of the crowd at that warning.

"However, fresh captives also come with upsides." With a cruel grin, the alien reached down with his hand to something behind the safety plate and lifted up a scraggily dressed but mildly attractive brunette. The girl looked feisty and defiant, and despite the pain of being lifted up by her hair she spat out expletives while trying to punch the alien the face.

"Very lively." The alien warden commented as he calmly poked the woman with an electrified stick. The woman quickly shrieked and lost all of her fight. The alien continued to grin. "As you see, Ashley Williams is one of many unspoiled females, just waiting for your crooked and tiny pink skin flashlights to enter her pussy. The rules are the same as before. The overseer who manages to mine the most iridium at the end of the week will get a full night with this lass."

The woman, Ashley, started to shiver in terror as practically every miner in the room leered at her virgin body. Harry had to admit he eyed her appreciatively as well, though it was a shame that most of her curves were hidden by her standard utilitarian outfit. _'Oh what the hell am I thinking? I gotta find a way to escape this alien prison! I can get bitches later once I get my wand back.'_

As the introductory speech has ended, the platform hovered away and the men were herded through the chamber and to a side room, which turned out to be a changing room. Most of the people automatically started to open the lockers and retrieve a thin full-body suit colored in garish orange. Harry curiously approached one of the lockers, only to fail abysmally at figuring out the locks. Soon enough some other foul-minded human bumped him from his place.

"That's my locker y' fuckin' new guy!" The man snarled as he effortlessly opened his locker and retrieved his own suit.

Harry dearly wanted to cook the man's spleen for his insolence, but he restrained himself with some difficulty. _'I'm not the top dog anymore. Without my magic, I can't do anything rash. These fellows look like they can rip off my limbs from their muscles alone.'_

Thus, with gritted teeth, Harry bowed his head and asked, "Where is my locker?"

He only got a wad of spit on his face as reply. As Harry wiped off the gunk with trembling fingers, he saw that a few sprightly men were already finished changing and started to go back to the chamber. With increasing alarm, Harry felt he needed to be done as well, or attract unneeded (and unwanted) attention.

"Hey, new guy! Over here!" Someone called further down the row.

Hoping that this wasn't some cruel joke, Harry hesitantly wandered over to the person who called for him. The black guy already finished changing, but he didn't leave the room like the others. With seemingly no worry, the firm and fit man reached for Harry's sleeve and pulled it back to reveal a string of alien numbers.

"This is your number." The older man pointed out. "All of these lockers are ordered from low to high. Your own suit should be at the end of the room, over there."

"I… I can't read this alien script."

The helper looked non-plussed for the moment. "You… can't? But it's so easy! This is a 7, that's a 5, and…"

"And…?" Harry trailed off, a bit miffed that the guy paused in his instruction.

"You don't have a translator implant, do you?"

"A what?"

Harry's clueless face evidently told the more seasoned prisoner enough.

"I'll guide you to your locker this time." The man said as he shook his head in pity. "I guess the last escape ships must be in a sorry state if they can't afford to implant passengers with translator packages anymore."

"Escape ships? Implants? What the bloody hell are you talking about?!"

Harry's outburst only drew more attention and he quickly quieted down. He had to remember not to put up his Dark Lord act now that he was anything but a wizard. As the black guy reached Harry's locker and helped the boy open the lock, he helped the confused and bewildered Harry put on the strange and futuristic suit.

"And this is how you put on your helmet." The black guy instructed, and warned Harry that he should always make sure the vacuum seal is properly secure.

The suit quickly did some strange things, including making Harry's face plate glow with alien symbols. "Whoa, what is this?!"

"That's your heads-up display. It's in Batarian as well, so I guess you can't read any of them yet. Anyway, our time is almost up. We better return and pick up our mining gear."

As the man marched out, Harry hurried to catch up, only to trip from the weight of the suit that felt like half an armor. "Wait! What's your name? And why are you the only one who's helping me?"

"It's Jacob. Jacob Taylor." The man introduced himself with a friendly smile behind his faceplate, which contrasted hugely with the snarling faces of the other miners. "Most of these slaves here have been here for years, maybe decades. Some are even generational slaves. Offspring of other, older slaves. They don't know much about how it's like to live freely, even if they are confined to small and shoddy freighters or passenger ships which escaped the Batarian conquest."

Harry felt completely out of his depth as Jacob casually referred to many strange things. He gathered that the four-eyed aliens were the Batarians, and that they evidently conquered Earth and her fledgling space colonies, but much of the details are vague, such as what year the conquest took place and what the date was this day. He didn't dare ask his helper any of this though, afraid of making himself look weak. The century-old wizard knew just enough about prisons that it was better to be overestimated than underestimated. Heck, his former playthings often exhibited the same behavior.

In fact, this Jacob looked like he could handle himself in a fight. His easy confidence masked a body trained for combat. Unlike the lumpy builds of most other miners, Harry recognized a warrior when he saw one. It also didn't appear that Jacob spent many years under this Batarian regime. _'If people like him still exist, then that means humanity isn't a total loss.'_

As Jacob guided Harry to his unit and helped him learn the controls of a futuristic drill, he wondered whether this alternate universe, dimension, or whatever possessed any wizards or witches. Might there be one here, amongst the countless ranks of prisoners? Unlikely. Any competent wizard could blast his way through the alien guards, though provided that he has a wand. Wands, and wood for that matter, appear to be very rare at this location.

"I'm in another work detail so I can't help you any further than this." Jacob remarked as he finished instructing Harry with the rudimentary controls. "Just keep your head down, listen to what your overseer tells you to do, and no matter what happens, do NOT cause any trouble. Just endure whatever the men pile up on you and tough it out."

The helpful man quickly disappeared, leaving Harry alone with a drill that he could barely figure out. A large door quickly opened to the outside world, and the miners all picked up their gear or drive their vehicles out. With a hefty lurch, Harry picked up his drill and awkwardly held it bridal style while he walked out of the chamber.

When he finally reached outside, Harry suddenly stopped, and gaped at the alien landscape that greeted his astonished eyes. Expecting to see some rural Earthern landscape, he instead saw nothing but rock, rock and more rock.

And space. A vast, open horizon of pure dark blue space greeted his sight. What was more disorienting was the harsh blue glare in the corner of his face place. When the wizard turned his face, he gasped as he saw that the bright blue glow was actually a sun. _'I'm not on Earth anymore. I'm not even in the same solar system. This.. this is somewhere else!'_

Where, Harry had no idea. As the boy took his next steps, he noticed that walking became more difficult on the rocky surface. His thick soles started to do something.. strange. _'They're sticking to the surface like a magnet. Does that mean..'_

Experimentally, Harry let go of his heavy drill. The extremely slow fall confirmed his suspicions. _'This rock isn't a planet at all! I'm on a moon, or an asteroid.'_

The full weight of this depressing mine suddenly crashed down on Harry. As he mindlessly walked across the dirt trail towards one of the many mines, he tried hard to figure out a way to get out of this floating rock in space. _'Apparition? No way in hell can I cross trillions of kilometers in a single jump. Portkey? The magical energy required for that will probably drain me to a husk.'_

No matter what magical means Harry conjured up from his memories, none of them bar the darkest and demonic allowed him to escape this inhuman place. And all of them were for naught so long he didn't possess a wand.

'_I'm fucking trapped and lost in space and expected to work my ass off for these ugly four-eyed aliens. What else is fate putting me up with?'_

The answer soon became clear when the big guy from before walked in front of Harry and pushed him back with a meaty gloved palm. "Wrong way, kiddo! You're one of my boys, idiot! Can't you read your HUD assignment?"

"N-n-n-" Harry started to reply through his microphone in his helmet which transmitted his words to other nearby workers in this airless asteroid.

The big guy only growled further and punched Harry in the kidneys, causing him to lose his composure.

"Pathetic! Pick yourself up, kid, and scram towards your spot! You better learn quickly kid. I got one of the better crews around Delta-349. If you're gonna screw up somehow and make me fail to reach the highest quota, then…"

The overseer's face turned positively scary to Harry then, and that was saying a lot as he hadn't felt fear in a long time. "Then what I planned to do to that bitch Ashley, I'm gonna let it out on you. If I were you, I'd better work hard."

With that ominous warning, the overseer strolled away with a swagger. A few nearby miners who overheard the conversation through their helmet speakers transmitted their unsympathetic laughs.

"Overseer Stenson is on a roll!"

"Hey, do you think Stenson will let me have him once he's done?"

"By the time the rest of us have our turns, that skinny kid will be as dead as a rock!"

Their disgusting taunts turned increasingly vile as Harry entered one of the many mines dotted throughout the dark and unforgiving asteroid. He wanted to swing his drill at one of his many tormentors to teach them a lesson, but he knew that was exactly what they were waiting for. Still, the indignity of being reduced to.. a prison bitch was extremely intolerable.

'_They won't be laughing once I get my magic back… if I get my magic back.'_

Stenson soon spread out his work detail to several spots to begin drilling and other work, and soon enough Harry was operating his own machine against a surface. _'What if.. that previous life is all a dream? A fantasy? What if I'm not a wizard?'_

No! He shouldn't be thinking like that, he shouldn't lose hope. Once he begins to accept this sorry existence, it would be all over for him. He had to remain strong and keep faith. Faith in his magic, and faith in his own strength.

'_Just because I never used wandless magic doesn't mean I'm a squib. The Elder Wand is strong, yes, and perhaps I relied on it too much. But fuck me if I can't cast a simple spell or two without a wand.'_

Harry wordlessly cycled through all of the spells he had at his disposal. Soon enough he ended up on what remained to be his signature spell even as he expanded his repertoire into the Dark Arts. Even when he has taught himself the darkest of curses, and the mightiest of charms, the simple _Expelliarmus_ has somehow kept coming back to him in his darkest moments.

He had to admit that while most of his other spells were flashier, they also often resulted in quick deaths. Harry seldom wanted his enemies to die quickly, especially if they were delectable females. A quick _Expelliarmus_ followed by a decent _Incarcerous_ conveniently disarmed and tied up most witches of middling strength while keeping their luscious bodies unscarred. Harry would have plenty of fun with his captives later.

So, with a devious mind, the wizard mentally prepared himself for this task. He picked one of the most annoying workers who drilled not too far away from his own spot. When nobody seemed to be paying any attention to Harry, the boy made his strike.

"_Expelliarmus!_" He furiously whispered, hoping that the noise of heavy breathing from other workers would mask his incantation.

For a short moment, his target seemed to lose grip of his drill. The surprised miner was experienced enough however to grasp the handles of his tool with lightning speed, but the results were more than enough to confirm Harry's theory.

Despite the taunts, despite his new and miserable state, Harry found cause to smile. He still had his magic.

* * *

**End notes:** Just a new fic. I'll be writing some more chapters quickly and see how much interest it will attract. For those who are unfamiliar with my writing habits, I'm sure you have noticed a few glaring grammar and style errors. That's because I write my chapters in one go (I wrote this chapter in 4-5 hours) and usually never go back and re-read them. I'm lazy and I hate proofreading my own work. I usually write a whole sleuth of chapters first before returning a few months later to go over them again to fix the most obvious mistakes. I admit that this does not present the most enjoyable reading experience for you, but I would rather expend my limited time and energy churning out new content rather than perfecting old work.


	2. I: A Harry Response

September 27, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** To be honest, I don't really have an extensive plan for the plot. I already entertained many different plot points that will be interesting to explore in the future but nothing is set in stone. I'm confident in my ability to spin interesting tales, though. I've learned quite a lot with my previous story _The Star Empire_ and I hope to smooth over a couple of shortcomings I've exhibited in that earlier work. That is also one of the reasons why I haven't continued with that fic even if it is still posted on alternate adult websites. The main reason still is of course that fanfiction dot net has by far the largest exposure. I don't enjoy spending countless hours writing many thousands of words for just thirteen readers.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_A Harry Response_

* * *

Harry Potter didn't enjoy the first day in this strange and alien universe. While the almost non-existent gravity of the asteroid meant that he didn't need to lift his drill so much, walking around with his strange gravity boots was a pain that forced him to hobble. Furthermore, the mine was rather dark and dingy, and he had to rely on his suit lights to strike for an iridium vein.

It also didn't help that everyone else in his work detail continued to make disparaging comments to him. The overseer did nothing to stop the sexual innuendos and threatening comments. He actually joined in the conversation!

'_Fucking Morgana, is this what men are reduced to? They are worse than animals.'_ But despite his curiosity, Harry never got to learn that much about this new universe and why humanity is conquered and enslaved by four-eyed ugly grey aliens. Everyone just assumed that everyone else knew the full story, and a gang of weary miners weren't very open to deep, historical discussions. The frustrated boy felt his IQ dropping with every hour that passed in that mineshaft. _'Savages. Beasts.'_

When the shift finally ended, a handful of Batarian guards herded the tired miners back to the changing room and forced them to deposit their vacuum suits back in the lockers. After Harry fumbled his way out of work outfit and back into his prison smocks, everyone drifted down some corridors and into what appeared to be a mess hall.

'_Some things just stay the same.'_ Harry thought as he figured out the routine. He went in line and picked up an empty polymer tray. After standing ten minutes in line, he reached the server, a snarling Batarian who eyed Harry with pure contempt. With a menacing growl, he deposited a lapel's worth of brownish grub.

'_That's all?'_ Harry mentally screamed before the next person in line rudely shoved him forward, almost causing the boy to drop his food. The wizard had to contain his anger for the umpteenth time, and instead tried to figure out where he would sit.

None of the miners looked friendly. From the lewd banter, casual threats and general stupidity, he doubted he would stay sane.

"Oh lookie here. It's the new kid."

Harry mentally groaned as his tormentors surrounded him. Their ugly faced stared down at him as if he was a puppy to be kicked. The miner in front of him slowly and deliberately reached out with his hand and grasped Harry's tray.

"You don't need this anymore." He said viciously as he pulled the tray from Harry's hands.

'_Don't do anything. Don't do anything.'_ Harry repeated, remembering the black guy's warning. These dumb miners were provoking him. If the wizard let his anger take control, he'd probably get beat up, or worse. _'If I had my wand at my disposal, these little shits would be turned into frogs and squashed beneath my boot.'_

As the group of bullies laughingly left a humiliated Harry behind, he had to keep himself still. His fists clenched hard, and only through a lifetime of discipline did he calm himself down. _'They'll all pay. Every one of them, starting with Overseer Stenson.'_

Sighing loudly, Harry ignored the demeaning stares of the bystanders who witnessed the event and went back to pick up another tray.

The moment his hand reached one of the plastic things, a horrendous electrical shock burst from the insides of his throat. Harry immediately collapsed and tried to nurse the burn in his neck, only to choke himself further with his clumsy fingers. All the while, the other prisoners laughed their asses off.

"Looks like a new kid just got his first implant shock!"

"Didn't you know, new guy? You don't get seconds!"

As Harry suppressed his tears, he picked himself up and looked at the mess hall with despair. How the hell was he gonna get his food now? None of the burly men looked sympathetic enough to let him share their portions.

"Hey, new kid." A miner from a nearby table called him. "You looking a bit hungry there. Want a bite?"

The man scooped up some of the brown slurry with his bare hands – the Batarians evidently didn't hand out eating utensils – and offered it to Harry.

The boy nodded stiffly, trying not to appear desperate.

"Then you gotta work for it." The guy leered, and spat a thick wad of his spit into the dripping slurry. He turned his chair around and stretched out his filthy dirt-ridden shoes. "Start cleaning. I want to see them spick and shiny."

Harry could accept his new circumstances up to a point. With no wand, no Hallows and only a tiny bit of wandless magic, he could never hope to earn these men's respect. Yet the sheer amount of degradation that they put him through was unacceptable. His pride stretched only up to a point.

"Looks like the little prince is too spoiled to dirty his tongue!" Someone yelled, and the rest of the crowd laughed.

Harry couldn't take it anymore. He turned his feet and resolutely marched away, trying hard to keep his chin high and his shoulders straight. Never in his life did he feel so humiliated and debased. Even the Dursleys possessed more shreds of humanity than these filthy pigs.

The misplaced wizard's thoughts turned positively nasty as he slipped out of the cafeteria and ended up in one of the countless corridors of cells. He looked at all of the alien labels in despair. _'I don't even remember where my own cell is at.'_

"Hey." A familiar voice sounded out behind him. Harry rapidly turned around to face Jacob Taylor. "I thought you would get in trouble today, so I reserved a portion for you."

The wizard looked down and saw that Jacob held an overfilled tray. Harry couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. _'Who did he beat up to get that much grub?'_

As if reading his thoughts, the friendly face smiled. "Don't ask." He said, and pressed on, passing Harry by. "Come on. We can eat at my cell. The Batarians don't mind so long the tray is returned within the hour."

Having no other choice (there is no way Harry will spend the night with his belly filled with the rank water from his sink), Harry followed the confident and unusually upbeat man, wondering idly whether he was unhinged, insane, or both. _'Probably the latter.'_

They eventually entered one of the many identical cells. Jacob invited his guest to sit on his cot, and together they started to dine on the overfilled tray. As Harry reluctantly mimicked Jacob and grabbed some of the shit-colored mush with his bare fingers, he could barely hide his disgust. As he pulled the stuff to his face and sniffed the food, he almost heaved. _'This doesn't just look like shit. It smells like it!'_

"I know it looks bad, but it's the only thing the Batarians will feed us." Jacob instructed as he finished swallowing some of the shit-like substance. "The slavers can't be bothered with cooking human food, so they just fabricate a massive amount of artificial supplements based off their native plants. Be grateful that the Batarians eat much of the same proteins as us."

Naturally Harry had no clue what dextro meant, but he got the message. He held in his nose and stuffed the grub in his mouth. With extreme effort, he swallowed the substance as quickly as possible, trying to ignore the rancid taste as much as possible. _'Fuck. Even my own excretions taste better than this!'_

Despite his increasing disgust, Harry stuffed as much of the food in his mouth as he could. He was afraid that if he took too long, that he would lose his appetite completely. Jacob approved of Harry's sudden enthusiasm and went at his own portion with a more sedate manner.

Minutes later, Harry wiped off the remaining gunk as best he could and leaned back against the metal wall. Throughout the entire invitation, he couldn't figure out Jacob's game. Why would he bother helping out a 'new kid' like him? _'Does he know about my magic? No, that can't be.'_

Harry decided to ask his benefactor directly. "Why are you going out your way to help me? Won't you attract too much attention?"

The more solidly built man mused for a few seconds. "You've noticed how the other prisoners behave towards each other. They're crude, bored men looking to squeeze the last bits of pleasure that they can get their hands on. Considering the uncaring nature of the Batarians, that means there is little they can take out their frustration on except each other."

"It's disgusting." Harry commented, a bit perplexed that he found someone who hadn't devolved into a caveman.

"They can't help it, son." Jacob patronizingly rebuked Harry.

The wizard was momentarily incensed of being mistaken as a young adult when he was actually more than a century old, but he let it slide. _'I can't jolly well correct him by explaining I'm young because of my magic.'_

"You see, Harry, once a new batch of human captives arrive at the camp, they try to hold out for a few months or years. But the hopelessness of their fate will eventually get to them, and let the unfairness of it all sap away their souls. I.. I didn't want to see you become like them."

The story made sense, but Harry was a little confused. "Why haven't you turned out like the rest? And why pick only me?"

"You're not the first newcomer that I've singled out. I have.. other friends who I've helped out in the past. Maybe you'll get to meet them someday, if you don't crack. As for myself… are you familiar with the Corsairs?"

The boy shook his head.

"Wow, your escape ship must have been really isolated if you don't know about the Corsairs." Despite Jacob's skepticism, he helpfully explained. "The Alliance Corsairs are an offshoot of the Systems Alliance. When we lost the war, not all of our space forces surrendered to the Batarians or escorted the escape ships to safety. My grandfather along with many other Alliance personnel rebelled, and took what few FTL-capable ships we had to continue the fight."

'_They didn't surrender against the aliens or ran away?'_ Harry's respect for Jacob went up a few notches. If he was part of a generation of disciplined soldiers, then it's no surprise that he didn't become as nutty as the rest of the miners. "Are there more of you Corsairs around here?"

"No, not many." Jacob's smile abruptly disappeared from his face. "The Batarians.. they've suffered quite a bit of losses from our efforts. Most of the Corsairs they manage to get their hands don't get to pass away peacefully."

Harry nodded, seemingly with sympathy, but unknown to Jacob he understood the Batarian position. _'That's what I've always done. I always had to make an example every now and then to keep most of the inbred wizards in check. These 'Batarian' aliens are more human than I thought. Good.'_

Unaware of his guest's train of thought, Jacob went on. "I'm just a marine, a grunt with little intelligence value, so they dumped me on this rock. The Batarians are smart enough not to put us all in the same place, though. As far as I'm aware, there isn't any other Alliance Remnant personnel on this camp."

As Jacob finished his little story, the two fell into a short period of silence. Only a few questions were answered, and what Jacob revealed only engendered further questions.

"I still don't know why you'd bother." Harry spoke up. "Since it's pretty obvious that escaping off an asteroid is impossible, we're probably doomed to the mines for the rest of our lives."

"It's… difficult to put into words." Jacob sighed. "I guess since the Batarians hadn't beaten the fight out of me yet, I'm trying to undermine them as best as I can. You see, son," The former soldier waved his hand. "All of this is deliberate. Don't think for a minute that they're sloppy or oblivious. Slavery is ingrained within their genes. They know exactly how to wear us down and break our will. If we're too busy barking at each other, we're not trying to escape or mess with the iridium quota."

Harry understood exactly what Jacob was getting at from personal experience. Keeping a lot of witches imprisoned in the same lair was a security risk. If Harry wanted to enjoy a different pussy each day, he had to discourage them from figuring out creative ways to bust themselves out. While most witches couldn't perform any wandless magic to save their skin, it was better not to tempt fate. In this perspective, Harry mentally applauded the Batarians for their masterful ways of keeping their prisoners docile and obedient. If the wizard ever hoped to get off this Merlin-forsaken rock, he had to keep his dignity as a human being intact.

"Chow time is almost over. I'd better return this tray before I get a shock."

"Wait, can you help me get back to my cell?"

"I don't have enough time, but I'll show you what the numbers mean."

At least the Batarians used the same decimal system as the humans. Once Harry memorized the meaning behind each symbol, he eventually figured out the location of his new home. He entered the familiar cell not with defeat or resignation, but with cold and cool defiance. _'I refuse to give in. I know what the Batarians are doing now. If those four-eyed freaks think they can subdue a Dark Lord, then they've got another thing coming.'_

After making sure there weren't any cameras hanging about, Harry sat cross-legged on his cot and tried to shift his attention inward. Beyond his skin, beyond the flesh, was his soul. If he submerged his consciousness deep enough, he would be able to take stock of his magical powers and check whether they have been altered in any way.

"…"

Meditation didn't come easily to him at all. Harry was as calm as a burning torrent. In his long and eventful life, he never ceased in his crusade against the Wizarding World. If he wasn't hunting down and butchering wizards, he was sticking his rod into screaming witches. The only period when he truly rested was when he slept, but if he did that he obviously wouldn't be able to investigate his magic.

Try as he might, Harry just couldn't let go of his anger. Whenever he closed his eyes, those sneering faces continued to haunt him. _'I'm too pissed to meditate.'_

After a few minutes of fruitless introspection, Harry abandoned the attempt, and turned his thoughts to other matters. What other wandless magic could he perform?

'_I'm too pathetic at Legilimancy even with my wand. An Animagus however…'_

A low chuckle escaped from his throat. Harry realized he wasn't completely helpless after all. Though he didn't dare try to transform right now in case there is a hidden camera somewhere, he started to hatch a few plots. Even though his Animagus form is a little disappointing, it was still better than nothing.

* * *

The next few days pass with distressingly few changes. The teasing and disparaging remarks continued to aggravate Harry's mood even further. Along with the regular bullying it soon became clear that Overseer Stenson wouldn't be achieving the highest quota of the week since this section of mine turned out to be rather dry for the moment. That meant he wouldn't be enjoying Ashley Williams' bedside manner, and he took out his frustrations on his underlings, Harry most of all.

"You better get your tight butt ready for a pounding, boy." Stenson ominously remarked after another long day of working. "Because if I don't get myself some pussy, I'll be taking the next best thing."

When his rough and filthy hands groped Harry's behind, the wizard almost lost it. He wanted to do nothing more than to lurch at Stenson and tear out the flesh from his throat. Stenson's daunting size and impressive muscles quickly suppressed that instinct, thankfully. He endured the touching as best as he could before the overseer moved on to join a gambling table.

Steaming with anger, Harry stomped back to his cell and dumped himself onto his cot. _'There's only two days left until they announce the results. I've got only two days to stop Stenson from ripping open my ass. How the hell will I stop him?'_

For a small moment, Harry considered Jacob's advice, and entertained the notion of bowing down his head to the cruel overseer. But seconds later, he furiously shook his head. _'No! I will never give in to this travesty. I've dealt with a lot of shit in my life, but I'm not about to let a guy have his way with me. It's inhuman.'_

The irony of being subjected to the same treatment that he often inflicted on his captive witches back in his previous life didn't cross his angry mind. He absolutely refused to let go of his stature as a wizard and a Dark Lord. After spending much of his formative years toiling like a slave for the Dursleys, he vowed never to let himself be debased in that manner again. If anything, it would be _him_ who would be dishing out the punishment, not others.

Harry mentally drew a red line that defined his limits and then went on to think up a way to avoid Stenson's wrath. _'There's no way in hell my work unit will reach the highest quota.'_

That meant he had to resort to other, less savory methods of fending Stenson off. _'I can't ask for Jacob's help. He'll just tell me to suck it up and suck Stenson off. He's too much of a goody two-shoes to go along with anything else.'_

While Harry admired Jacob's inner strength, his archaic concepts of duty and nobility were entirely inappropriate in dealing with the current situation. If Harry wanted to survive in this camp with his dignity intact, he had to lower himself to Stenson's level and play dirty. The question was how far he was allowed to go?

'_There aren't many Batarians patrolling around, and their control is rather lax.'_

Jacob had explained one day that the Batarians didn't want to waste too much manpower keeping the billions of enslaved humans they possessed in line. Most of the actual control was carried out by the human overseers themselves. By dangling out a few carrots such as getting the opportunity to ravish a human female, the overseers have become a remarkably efficient tool through which the Batarians exert their demands.

The daily scuffles and occasional deaths didn't bother the slaver race too much. They had plenty of more humans where they came from, whether from their industrial breeding efforts or from occasional captures of another escape ship that had finally depleted their fuel.

Therefore, killing another human – even an overseer – wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. As long as the Batarians got their regular shipments of iridium, they hardly cared about the pink skin's tribal rituals. As far as they were concerned, the humans were just a bunch of monkeys lollygagging about in a zoo.

'_Good. I won't be getting any complaints from that department. All I have to worry for the moment then is the other inmates' reactions. They won't be pleased to see a kid like me breaking up their routine.'_

Despite the challenges that faced him, Harry kept his savage grin as he entertained a dozen ways he could off the overbearing overseer. _'It's time that this universe has its first taste of magic.'_

* * *

Oddly enough, the bullying didn't bother him as much once he had a plan to deal with Stenson. Like a teacher standing on front of a crowd of high school students, Harry felt that all of this posturing was beneath him. Even as the rowdy men called him names and pushed him around, he held back his temper, confident that they would all be singing a different tune once he was done with Stenson.

'_Let these rabble have their fun.'_ Harry would try to reason. _'Tomorrow, everything will change.'_

Somehow, Jacob got word of Harry's supposed fate. During the hours after the shift when the cell doors remained open, the nosy ex-marine visited Harry's bunk.

"I don't need your meddling." Harry snarled back a bit harder than he intended. "I've got something up my sleeve."

"Harry, I don't know what you're up to, but I don't like the look on your face. The overseers all got their position due to their strength and ruthlessness. They're used to getting what they want whenever they want."

"I know that."

"Then let me help. I can talk to Stenson and see if we can come to a trade. Usually we can pass off a part of our rations to him as tribute. I'm sure a month's worth of-"

"I'm not going to starve myself." Harry firmly interrupted the well-meaning soldier. "I hate that slop as much as you, but I'm not stupid enough to give away my calories."

After a few rounds of stubborn discussion, Jacob threw up his hands and gave up. "You know where my cell is if you need any help. But please, don't make too much noise. Just rough it out and get it over with. Stenson will tire of you eventually and pick on someone else once he marked you as his conquest."

The notion that Harry would surrender his body to another man was abominable, even if it only happened once. He stiffly turned his head and kept his eyes averted until Jacob slowly slipped away from his cell.

'_Tomorrow, I'll show him how it's done. I'll show everyone how it's done.'_

* * *

At the end of the week, the day started the same as the ones before. An alarm woke Harry up. The tired boy calmly washed his face and guzzled down as much water as he could as the Batarians didn't bother to feed their prisoners more than once a day. Once that routine was done, he calmly joined the stream of zombies out into the equipment chamber where the same ol' four-eyed freak made another disparaging speech towards the inmates. A small part of him admired the warden's tenacity in addressing the humans day in day out.

'_Quite clever.'_ He complimented the senior slaver. _'Even if none of us actually listens to his sermons, unconsciously we're all slowly accepting his authority and our low place of life.'_

Harry had to be careful not to fall into the same trap. The Batarians wore armor and wielded deathly weapons, yes, but the wizard doubted they were immortal. Even though he hadn't learned much on how the Batarian conquest of Earth had unfolded, he gathered enough clues to know that the Batarians won due to their numbers and technological superiority. They could be killed, but it took ten regular human soldiers to do so. And more Batarians continue to pour into humanity's budding space territory.

That was good, because if a muggle can kill a Batarian, so can a wizard. Harry only needed to bide his time and figure out a way to escape the Batarians without getting bombed by a Batarian space ship. The downside of being imprisoned on an asteroid was that Harry couldn't just run and hide. If the Batarian scanners don't pick up his life signs, he would need oxygen, food, and other supplies just to survive. And without a space ship, he'd never be truly free.

'_The only way to get off Delta-349 is by hijacking a ship, but that's a long way off.'_

First things first, he needed to deal with the overseer. As Harry slipped into his vacuum suit and ventured out into the mine, Stenson rabidly exhorted his underlings to mine harder.

"We can still catch up if we drill hard!" He would yell into his helmet microphone. Harry sadly hadn't found a way to block the remote communication network. "That Ashley bitch will be mine, I swear it. I'm tired of getting in second or third."

Stenson's overbearing behavior proved counterproductive. His constant scrutiny made everyone more nervous, and at each supposed mistake he would blow up and give the offending inmate a few nasty kicks. Harry himself hadn't escaped the punishment, but he just gritted his teeth and endured the dwindling hours as best he could.

The long, mindless ten-hour shift finally ended. Everyone streamed back to the base and tore off their suits. Before they headed off to the mess hall however, they had to stand in neat rows as the Batarian warden returned on his floating platform.

"You filthy, lazy maggots." The Batarian barked at the subdued humans. "According to the latest results your total output has decreased by 1.3 percent despite the fact that you've got several new recruits. That is disgraceful! Either get your act together, or face the consequences."

With the obligatory swearing over with, the Batarian finally moved on to the topic that everyone had been waiting for. With a vicious smirk the warden reached down and pulled up the familiar female prisoner yet again. By now, she learned enough not to cry out or kick up a fuss.

"Now, I'm pleased to announce that not all of you pink skin maggots proved to be a disappointment. One work detail in particular exceeded their quota by over twenty percent! As promised, the overseer in charge will get to enjoy unsupervised access to this promising young woman. We don't care one lick what happens to her as long as she stays alive and whole."

A few men released a couple of lewd chuckles. Harry knew from personal experience you could do a damned lot of things to a captive woman without resorting to permanent torture. Harry preferred not to mar his victims too much so he could get the most use out of them in their lifetimes.

'_Waste not want not.'_ Though in the later stages of his life, he sometimes disposed of a handful of slaves whose beauty had faded. Harry definitely didn't dig wrinkly old tarts. Or middle-aged ones for that matter. He was actually quite a connoisseur of finely shaped pleasure toys. Like a distinguished wine taster, he selected only the finest breeds with the softest bodies. His victims should not too young, as even a Dark Lord like Harry had his limits. But they should also have just enough willpower to hate what Harry was doing to them, because the most refined pleasure the depraved wizard enjoyed always came at expense of others.

"Overseer Brendan, you are the lucky winner!" The overseer announced, to the cheers and groans of others. "You know the drill. Eat your grub and head down to my office. My guards will let you through and escort you to your suite."

The platform hovered away then, leaving the men behind without a women to oogle at. While Brendan and his work detail whooped in joy, the rest of the men quickly adopted their usual somber demeanor and headed down to the mess hall.

As Harry made his way to the hall to get his latest dose of carbohydrates, fat and protein, a familiar large hand suddenly grabbed his neck, choking him to a stop. The foul stench of Stenson's breath brushed the boy's ears. "You're not going anywhere tonight. Food can wait. Right now your ass is mine!"

Harry was barely able to breathe as Stenson's huge frame lumbered through the crowd and down into the cells. They both eventually arrived in the overseer's personal abide. As Stenson firmly threw Harry onto his bed, the boy noticed that the overseer's cell was much different than the others. Besides being twice as large, the bed had an actual mattress that felt quite soft to be honest. A small desk sat in the corner with a holographic computer terminal, and to top it off Stenson enjoyed an actual shower and a toilet that wasn't a hole in the floor.

All of this was quickly lost however when Stenson punched Harry's face, stunning him for a few seconds.

"You stay down boy!" The angry and bitter man growled as he slipped off his pants. Harry almost gagged at the sight of another man's junk.

'_Nobody is watching.'_ Harry's slurred mind thought as the dizzy boy tried to regain his senses. _'I've got to transform now!'_

Inwardly, Harry reached down the pit of his magic and forced the transformation process. It was a relatively long and agonizing process for him as he never really utilized his Animagus form very much.

Once in his travels, around his forties Harry guessed, he became curious about his Animagus form. While he was a master wizard with his Elder Wand, there were always some situations where discretion provided more results than mere brute force. A suitable Animagus form provided a lot of opportunities for spying, as had been amply proven by Rita Skeeter's bug form. Luckily Harry's wards had set off once she followed him into a safehouse. The budding Dark Lord's treatment of the slanderous journalist hadn't been kind at all.

Ever since then, he stole as much books as he could about the Animagus procedure. While most of the ancient books were filled with superstition and superfluous nonsense, one remarkably lucid work by Nicholas Flamel himself nonetheless theorized that a wizard's Animagus form was shaped by the experiences of his childhood.

To Harry, that explained the most out of any other mumbo jumbo crackpot book. His father James had been raised as a modest but proud Pureblood from an old and venerable lineage. Sirius' own troubled childhood as the black sheep and rebel turned him into a kicked but ever-loyal dog. Peter Pettigrew's rat form was, of course, self-explanatory.

This little nugget of insight gave Harry plenty of sleepless nights. His own childhood was less than glamorous. Working as a virtual slave for the Dursleys might have formented his Animagus into a sorry creature, like an ant or a worm. His hopes of transforming into a great or deathly creature were dashed.

Yet Harry was still curious. Enough so that he continued on with his research, and went through with the ritual required to discover and express his Animagus form.

So when the transformation finally ended, Overseer Stenson gaped in disbelief at the impossible sight. Instead of a skinny, dark-haired kid that he thought he would enjoy for the night, he stood face to face with his pants down with an animal.

A human who has lived his entire life in the limited confines of a Batarian slave camp wouldn't know of animals. Probably none of the humans living today still do. So when Stenson saw the miraculous transformation into a completely unfamiliar form, he drew the only conclusion he could in his limited experience. "Alien. You're some kind of freakish alien!"

The four legged monstrosity in front of him was a draft animal. A bovine, to be more precise. Harry figured this was Fate's way of telling him he was destined to slave away for others, tilling fields and pulling carts.

Too bad Fate didn't got the memo that oxen are supposed to be castrated. To Harry's eternal gratitude, man bits are still natural and intact. All of the raging hormones that continued to circulate in his youthful body quickly multiplied inside his new, larger body.

The bull let out a moo as his mental restraints fell apart, and embraced the natural rage that welled inside of him ever since he found out that other kids weren't treated as harshly as him. As he slept in his dark and lonely cupboard, he often wondered why he didn't have loving parents, or a normal sibling, or a carefree life. While he often cried himself to sleep, in some careless moments he raged at the unfairness of it all.

Now, as he did then those many years ago, he let his rage take hold. With a mighty moo that was anything but the docile cries of female cows, Harry charged with over a thousand kilos of pure solid body mass and slammed his twin horns into the soft and pitiful flesh of his tormentor.

"Agh!" Stenson cried out as the horns effortlessly pierced his abdomen. The entire charge, short as it was, hauled him off his feet and slammed him against the metal wall behind him, pinning him further and allowing the horns to tear through his entire torso.

Unlike other animals, such as dogs or horses, bulls don't mainly bite or trample their opponents. A simple head butt was enough to settle a fight.

Unfortunately for Stenson, Harry wasn't a mindless bull, but an Animagus with a vengeful mind. Once Harry gored the human repeatedly with his horns, he let the bloody piece of meat collapse to the floor. With another loud moo, Harry then proceeded to lift up his front and crash is down against the overseer's body.

The cries of agony and pain quickly whittled away after that. By the time Harry finished venting his frustration, much of the cell was covered with blood stains. Of Stenson himself, well, his humanoid shape was still roughly recognizable.

Roughly.

With a tired and painful heave, Harry transformed back into his native form. He didn't shy away from the bloody corpse but instead regarded it with pride. With a satisfied smirk he settled down on the soft and luxurious mattress and patted it experimentally with his sore and blood-soaked palm.

'_Once I get this mess cleaned up, this place shall make a fine abode.'_

He kept his smirk even as curious inmates started to return from their dinner early and poke their heads inside the open cell. Almost all of them couldn't imagine how a scrawny kid like Harry managed to work over a man at least twice his mass and strength so thoroughly and viciously. Harry let them gawk at the gruesome sight, intending to imprint on the clueless prisoners that he wasn't someone anyone should mess about. _'With this, I won't have to worry about becoming anyone's prison bitch.'_

Eventually, a familiar face popped in. Jacob Taylor's reaction was much like the rest. Disbelief and amazement initially expressed on his face, before finally settling on fear.

"Harry.. what have you done?"

The satisfied wizard licked his lips, wiping off some of the stray blood that landed on his face. "I fought back."

* * *

**End Notes**: I'm still not sure how I can make this fic come to terms with lemon-y content. Obviously, straight explicit content will no doubt invite many abuse reports. I'm not sure how diligently the moderators are enforcing the rules, but I'm fairly certain that if they don't remove it today, they'll eventually get around to it next year or so. I really hate splitting up my reading audience, but I think I don't have any other choice than to write two different versions. The true version will be posted on sites like Adult Fanfiction, while a version scrubbed of lemons will remain here. It's not an ideal solution, but it's the only one that's viable in the long term. I won't write a lemon in every chapter however because I noticed those kind of shenanigans will quickly grow stale. There won't be too much of a difference then between the two versions.


	3. I: The New Overseer

September 28, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** It's inevitable that someone will inevitably note that this is yet another one of my 'weak-depowered-character' fics. All I have to say is that I am guilty as charged. This trope is just too good for me to let go. I enjoy writing about underdogs, and having them grow into power rather than having an omnipotent author shower them with a deluge of useless gifts. I am sure that most readers are familiar with overpowered/Godlike Harry fics who all seem to contain a Harry who is the heir of a Founder, a master Occlumens and Legilimens, has an Animagus form of a Phoenix or other amazing magical creature, happens to know Russian when he travels to Eastern Europe, and oh he's also a male Veela.

…Yeah. I'm very tired of those overused clichés, and the way other authors have no restraint in employing them. In almost all of the cases, the characters don't even utilize their powers to the fullest, because they have so many already. I find this extremely wasteful and a detriment to the story as a whole. I once read a Rosario+Vampire fic where the main character kept getting more and more abilities and gifts that I left a review saying that if the character fell into a coma for a week, he would awake and find out he's become the emperor of the world through no effort of his own because how heavily the author is skewed towards him. I like to write a more gradual approach with more meaningful problem solving and world building.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_The New Overseer_

* * *

Word quickly spread. It was inevitable. Everyone was caught off guard that a new kid triumphed over an overseer who had been dominating the inmates for decades. However, What really caught their attention was the sheer carnage left in the overseer's former suite. Stenson had been punctured, gored, and trampled by Harry's Animagus forms. Yet since no one else witnessed the butchery, the other men all thought that Harry did it all with his bare hands, or at least with some kind of improvised tool. Against a man as formidable as Stenson, that deserved recognition.

No one questioned too much about what has happened. The torn bits of meat and numerous splatters of blood caused many curious inmates to walk away from Harry in fear, which was exactly what the displaced wizard intended. _'Let them cower from me.'_

Already, Harry began to plan his next steps. Now that he killed an overseer, he had a unique opportunity to grab a position of power. While he wasn't very familiar with all of the rituals involved with becoming an overseer, the wizard figured it would be enough to show up tomorrow and start acting the part.

The only potential problem there was if the rest of his work detail didn't accept his deserved promotion. He couldn't very well transform into a bull right in front of thousands of humans. With his limited strength, he had to keep his cards close, and use them sparingly in a way that would not reveal his true potential. _'If the Batarians ever get wind of my magic, they'll dissect me in seconds.'_

So long his wand was lost somewhere out in the universe, Harry needed to hold on and build up his strength in a steady manner. He actually didn't intend to usurp an overseer so soon without gathering more intelligence, but he really didn't relish letting another man have his way with Harry's body.

'_This is rather troublesome. I have to keep my new men in check without using any overt magic.'_

Yet Harry isn't completely helpless in this regard. His long and distinguished career in terrorizing the Wizarding World had taught him much about fear, and the influence it afforded to the likes of Voldemort and him. Harry actually took much of his former nemesis' lessons to heart. How else could a single wizard with a few scores of followers subdue an entire nation of tens of thousands of wizards? Fear made people hesitate, and discouraged them from performing acts of bravery.

This was the key to controlling Stenson's former men. By intimidating them into submission by using threats and occasional misdirection, Harry wouldn't need to get his hands dirty.

That could wait until tomorrow. For now, if Harry wanted to claim this lavish cell for himself, he needed to clean up the mess enough so that he could sleep. His head swiveled around and his heart dropped a little at the liberal amount of carnage. _'This will take hours to clean up, especially if I don't have any cleaning materials.'_

Fortunately, a not-too-bright man entered the cell, and groveled before the murderer. "H-Hello." The fearful blond man greeted Harry. "I-I-I used to clean Stenson's cell. If you allow me, I can clean up this mess. That is, if you want, overseer."

Curious, Harry set aside his plans and scrutinized the newcomer's face. He vaguely recognized his colleagues. He was one of the few who didn't spend all his time engaging in stupid banter, though he had laughed plenty of times along with the more hardened crowd. Seeing his face now allowed Harry to pin him down easily enough. _'He's a toady.'_

A suck up. A follower. Harry knew the type well. While in his former life he mostly worked alone, he had to deal with many hierarchies, from Voldemort's organization to the corrupt Ministry of Magic. This toady who offered to clean up his new cell wasn't any different from scum like Pettigrew.

'_I should kick his face and boot him out of my cell.'_

Harry didn't, of course. He couldn't very well demean himself by scrubbing off all of the drying blood by himself. So with a reserved nod, he granted his permission. "Alright, go ahead. By the way, I don't quite know your name. You're Conrad, right?"

The eager man smiled brightly as he zipped off his uniform shirt and began soaking it in the sink. "Conrad Verner, at your service!"

As annoying as Conrad appeared, Harry appreciated the man's effort in scrubbing the bloody mess away. _'So that's why Voldemort always kept pathetic creatures like Pettigrew around. Someone's got to do the dirty work.'_

Harry easily dismissed Conrad as a threat as the annoying man occasionally spoke up and tried to praise his new superior. Someone like him wouldn't be out to murder Harry. He didn't seem like the type, and there's no way he'd command the respect of the others. _'Conrad just want to ride behind my coattails. I doubt he was very loyal to Stenson, or to me for that matter. He'll just suck up to any boss he sees.'_

Eventually, most of the blood and lose bits of flesh were scrubbed away. The stains on the mattress couldn't be helped, but Harry dismissed that problem. After helping Conrad drag Stenson's lifeless corpse from the cell, curfew soon came in effect, causing each cell door to close automatically. Any prisoner who still roamed in the corridors would receive a lethal shock from his throat implant.

As Harry lay on the mattress and dragged a mostly unspoiled blanket over his body, he wondered whether his Animagus transformation affected his shock implant. Usually, an Animagus who began the change had his clothes and his possessions transformed with him. After changing back, the items would be returned to him. Otherwise, Harry would have been stark naked after working Stenson over.

'_How delicate is my throat implant then?'_ The wizard mused. It was well known that electronics didn't mesh with magic, and had a tendency to malfunction. Still, Harry wasn't too sure if Batarian technology would be affected in the same manner. Different materials or technological principles might make the implant hardened enough to resist magical interference.

'_I'll just find out tomorrow.'_ Harry thought, and let his exhaustion overtake his mind.

* * *

It turns out that there was more involved with becoming an overseer than offing the previous title holder. An hour before the alarm woke everyone up, Harry's cell door swiped upwards as a pair of Batarian guards stormed into the cell and slammed the butt of their rifles into Harry's slumbering body.

"Fuck!"

Expecting an ambush by vengeful or greedy inmates, Harry coiled out of his bed and whipped into a battle stance. But before he could even begin to gather his senses, one of the Batarians ripped out an electric rod from his back and delivered a non-lethal but excruciating shock, instantly robbing the boy of his control.

After successfully pacifying the prisoner, the guards moved back and allowed a third Batarian to step forward. Despite the fact that all Batarians looked the same, Harry recognized the head warden from his more elaborate battle armor. The claw-like wrist guard appeared especially menacing.

"Harry Potter. Barely arrived a week ago and already making a name for yourself." The warden began in his typical warbled speech. Harry blearily saw that the Batarian's lip movements didn't match with what he heard.

"Y.. you're not angry, I hope?"

The warden furiously back-handed Harry. "You forget your place, slave! Address your betters properly with 'sir', or 'master'."

"Yes.. sir." Harry gritted out as blood flowed out of a cut from his inner cheek. He refused to even consider calling the aliens his master. "May I ask your name, sir?"

"You may address me as Warden Chi'lak." Answered as the Batarian continued to tower over Harry's injured form. "I have come here to.. instruct you the bare necessities of your new responsibilities, however briefly that will last."

The ugly curl of Chi'lak's sneer signaled that he didn't expect Harry to last very long. Likely the warden thought Stenson's death was some sort of fluke, and that some other ruthless human would soon rob Harry of his life to get a shot at being an overseer.

"Since you have taken upon yourself to replace Stenson, there are a few simple rules you need to follow. First, you are required to reach the minimum quota of iridium every week. Second, are responsible for the conduct of your work unit. If any of your workers die, you won't get a replacement for a long time, but you're still expected to maintain the same quota. Third, we are not your friends. Don't come knocking at my door asking for our help with your silly human needs. You are our slave, and taking care of your messes is beneath us. Obey the rules, deliver plenty of quotas, and you will be rewarded with whatever scraps we throw at you. Women, luxuries, liquor, all of that can be yours, if you perform well."

After explaining a few other formalities, the warden finished his lecture and left the cell contemptuously after he spat into Harry's face.

'_Merlin, does everyone always spit around here?'_ Harry silently raged as he wiped off the alien saliva quickly. He calmed himself again, knowing that an outburst served no purpose. _'I got to keep my head straight. First things first. I've got to gain control over my work unit and make sure they work hard enough to meet the quota.'_

As long as he maintained the quota, Harry wouldn't get any trouble from the Batarians, leaving him with enough free time to prepare for an escape. Still, he was not going to play the loyal puppy. Trivial incentives like alcohol and pussy only served to distract him from his true goal. _'And if I start to enjoy my stay here, I'll never be able to get off this rock.'_

After a thorough shower, Harry dressed himself in his standard uniform and left the cell as soon as the morning shift began. He had a new crew to address.

* * *

The assembly went as usual. Warden Chi'lak didn't reference Stenson's murder nor did he refer to Harry. The only notable change is when he lifted another woman by the hair, a slim redhead with a high-pitched voice who didn't look too shabby.

"Gabriella Daniels here is the next prize for this week's contest. She's also fresh off the slave ship, so work hard if you want to be her first!"

After the catcalls and whistles have subsided, the warden floated away, leaving the men to their work.

That was when Harry's real struggle began. A group of twenty-four workers remained in their place, all of whom were part of Harry's work unit. A group of nine men quickly enclosed the wizard and stared at him menacingly. Conrad and the others maintained their distance, not wanting to get caught up in the impending conflict.

"What's this all about, men?" Harry broke the silence calmly. He knew he had to appear confident, or everything would fall apart.

"We're on to you, kid." One of the troublemakers answered and poked his finger straight against Harry's chest. "There's no way you could have killed Stenson on your own. You had help from that Jacob fellow."

Harry was afraid of this. The only way to disprove these thugs was to show off his magic. They wouldn't be swayed with threats and warnings.

"You don't want to pick a fight with me." Harry growled as he desperately groped for a solution. _'I can't fend of all nine of them with my fists.'_

Perhaps he could even the odds somewhat. Outwardly, he smirked, and arrogantly crossed his arms. "If you're so desperate to become the next overseer, then come and duel me. Or can't you defeat a kid without help?"

This enraged the speaker. He elbowed his way forward and motioned everyone else to give the two more room. The aspiring overseer then cracked his knuckles and loosened his muscles. But before he poised into a stance, he rummaged in his pocket and retrieved a crude shiv. The knife-like metal was shaped from a tiny piece of smuggled iridium ore. "Don't worry boys. This will be quick."

'_Shit, I didn't expect a weapon.'_ Harry panicked as his opponent began to storm forward with his knife poised to plunge.

Only one solution presented itself. The former Dark Lord had faced plenty of dagger wielders in his day. Usually they were ritualists who used blood magic to fuel their dark enchantments. Harry's usual response to a madman is to disarm them.

Harry's ingrained instinct therefore quickly took over. As the man was almost upon him, Harry screamed nonsensical sounds before quickly forming them into a masked _Expelliarmus_. Harry felt a weak and dispersed blast of magic travel through his arms and out of his palms. The magical wave front hit the holder of the shiv, and somehow he lost his grip.

The wizard was ready for this moment. He neatly dodged to the side, letting the blundering fighter wobble past, and snatched the flying weapon out of the air. Harry cursed as his fingers held onto the sharp side of the shiv, but he ignored the discomfort and hastily held the rounded grip with his undamaged hand.

"You! Give me back my shiv!" Harry's opponent rabidly yelled as he charged straight into the boy.

Aware that he didn't have much skill in brawling, the wizard braced himself and let the furious thug ram right into him. While the man made a valiant attempt at grasping Harry's arm, he deftly avoided the grab and thrust the shiv straight down into his enemy's back.

"Ghuk!"

Harry winced as he nursed his stomach. _'He sure punches hard.'_ Yet the sacrifice was worth it as his shiv managed to wound his opponent heavily. The boy withdrew his dagger and plunged it again for good measure.

The challenger collapsed as his life fluids leaked out of two separate puncture wounds. Everyone else was amazed that Harry won. _'It looks like none of them noticed the Expelliarmus. Good.'_

While Harry could have let the loser bleed to death, he knew he had to pound in this lesson to his thick-headed subordinates. He approached the wounded man and turned him onto his back. Harry then kneeled closer and hovered the blood-soaked shiv over an eye.

"..No.. please no.." The man moaned with pain and closed his eyes as drops of blood landed onto his face.

The victorious overseer took no heed of the pleading. With his injured palm Harry held his victim's jaw in place. With that done, he plunged his knife straight through the eyelid and into the eyeball itself. A horrendous scream escaped the man's throat as Harry turned the sharp weapon and ruined the eye completely. The boy then withdrew the shiv and worked over the other eye in the same manner, careful enough not to poke his knife too deeply. It wouldn't do for him to die too soon.

"I'm.. your overseer. Your boss. This business of making fun of me ends now." Harry addressed the others as he elaborately worked over his dying victim. He sedately poked out each and every finger nail, then chopped off the bleeding fingertips like a sushi chef. As the flow of blood began to sag, Harry wrenched off the genitals with a bloody swipe and stuffed them into the ruined man's mouth.

After wiping off the blood and pocketing the shiv, Harry raised himself to his feet and directed his full attention to his men. "Does anyone else want to have a shot at me?"

Nobody dared to move an inch, not even to shake their heads.

"Good. Then I guess this matter is ended. Now head to the changing room and suit up!"

"Yes sir!" They answered automatically and practically raced out of the chamber. Harry left the bloody body behind, figuring that the Batarians or some other slaves will clean it up.

After suiting up in his work suit Harry noticed that his heads-up display looked somewhat different than before. Additional symbols and information overlaid his vision. _'Probably related to my overseer duties. Too bad I can't make sense of these words.'_

Harry thought of asking one of his men to help figure out the words, but then reconsidered. He couldn't afford to show any weakness, not when their loyalty is still shaky. _'I'll do without for now, and ask for Jacob's help later.'_

The shift passed by uneventfully. Having made his point abundantly clear, the rowdy crowd did their best to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Harry gave them enough space to keep them working, though he quickly figured out that they were drilling and mining the iridium at a noticeably slower pace.

The death of one of their companions obviously affected their moods. Having two less laborers at work also impacted the yield. It might not have been such a good idea to kill the challenger.

'_What am I thinking. Of course it was necessary.'_

* * *

Eventually, they managed to reach the quota, if barely. The loss in manpower was a more serious issue than Harry initially thought. _'I'll get into trouble if we run into a dry spell.'_

After exchanging his work suit for his uniform, Harry marched into the cafeteria and confidently passed the line and cut into it at the very front. He had seen many other overseers do the same, and Harry figured this would be a good way to reinforce his new status.

The man behind Harry didn't make a sound or complain about what Harry just did. Of course, most other diners had witnessed the spectacle as well. None of them dared to talk about the new upstart overseer when he was in the same room. As Harry not-too-subtly swept his gaze over them, they averted their eyes and tried not to stand out. Only the other overseers dared to look back at him, but they were no concern.

Harry moved forward and took a seat in the middle of his work unit's table. All of their banter ceased for the ten minutes their new overseer stuck around. Conrad made some obvious overtures to start a conversation, but even his cheery demeanor failed to impress the others.

It wasn't as if Harry enjoyed this subtle intimidation. He'd rather return to his new cell and eat his meal in peace without hundreds of eyes scrutinizing his every move. But that would show weakness.

So Harry confidently finished his portion of slop, deposited his tray, and walked away as if there is nothing special. This was all part of the act.

Conversation began to explode as soon as they thought Harry was outside of hearing distance. He smirked at that and returned to his lavish cell. Having nothing to do for a couple of hours, he sat on Stenson's desk and tried to figure out the orange holographic interface.

Besides having no idea what the Batarian letters mean, his long isolation from the muggle world meant he never really got to understand computers. _'Damnit. I can't work this thing at all. I'll have to learn the Batarian alphabet at least.'_

Harry spent half an hour glowering in his cell before a visitor arrived.

"Hello? Harry?"

The boy in question turned to the familiar face of Jacob. This time he didn't put up an easy smile. It was obvious that the events of yesterday and this morning still affected him. The Corsair marine kept a wary distance, as if Harry was a dangerous animal.

Good.

"Jacob. Come in."

The man awkwardly stepped closer. "Look Harry, let's just get this out of the way. While I understand why you've.. taken Stenson out, you're out of your depth here. Taking on the responsibility of an overseer is a heavy burden. There's more to it than meeting the quota."

"Don't patronize me." Harry barked back, settling his glowering eyes over the black man. "I'm not a child. I know how to play the game."

This hardly satisfied the worried soldier, but he let it drop. "You seem confident that you have this well in hand, but the moment you get in trouble, I'm always there to give a hand."

"You can help me with two things right now." Harry replied commandingly. "You can teach me how to operate this damn glowing computer thingie, and you can explain to me your escape plan."

"I can help you with the first, but the second…"

"Oh come on, Jacob. You're a soldier. A fighter. I'm not convinced for one second that you're resigned to this dump for the rest of your life. Helping the Batarians gather more resources so that they can fight your companions better is not something you will take sitting down."

Jacob's face looked disturbed. "Delta-349 is an asteroid the fraction of the size of a moon. There's nowhere else to go even if we overcome the fences. The reason why there aren't many Batarian prison guards around is because they know it's futile to attempt an escape."

"What about hijacking a ship? All that iridium we're mining as to go somewhere, right? And the new slaves have to be delivered here as well."

"The Batarians aren't completely clueless, Harry. Imagine Delta-349 as a potato-shaped asteroid. You know what a potato is? Right. Well, we're on one side of the asteroid while the spaceport is all the way on the other side. There's a gravity train connecting the two bases together, but unlike the mining camp the train and the spaceport are guarded by a company of fully equipped Batarians. Even if the entire prison population stormed the port, none of us would ever make it through the front steps."

"What if.. we somehow sneak through the checkpoints, like hiding a small force in an iridium crate?"

"I thought it over, but it's too complex." Jacob slowly replied. "The Batarians are thorough in their scans. Nothing comes in or out without an inspection. On top of that, even if we manage to board a ship, we wouldn't be able to figure out the ship without trained specialists. If we don't want to accidentally end up inside a sun we need at least a pilot, a navigator, a couple of engineers, a squad of gunners-"

"Wait wait." Harry interrupted the Corsair. "I'm not thinking about gaining complete control over a ship. I don't care about guns if we don't have to blow up a ship to escape. If we just want to get the hell out of here, what specialist do we absolutely need to get the ship going?"

Jacob considered the question thoroughly. "It's not my expertise, but… I figure we can get a Batarian transport going with just a pilot, a navigator and an engineer. They're designed to be crewed by as few men as possible, you see. Warships are a different matter altogether. We'll need at least ten trained specialists who have all served on captured Batarian ships."

"I take it those kinds of specialists are kind of rare."

"Most of the people here trained for other, less complex duties, such as me, or trained on human-built vessels. Batarian ships are radically different to operate, not the least due to their mass effect cores."

Harry still had no idea what mass effect meant, but spending many centuries trying to figure out obscure foreign magic allowed him to brush aside such jargon. "So is there any specialist at all who can take control of a transport ship?"

"Well, I know of an old hand named Pressly who's a former officer and navigator. I think navigators have enough theoretical knowledge to pilot a ship directly, but it's not going to be turning circles any time soon."

"Great. Let's pay a visit to him."

"Whoa there." Jacob threw up his hands and motioned Harry to stay seated. "We can't just walk up to him. He's.. rather cynical. If you don't have a solid plan – and proof that you can pull it off – he won't risk exposure. The penalty for attempting to escape is pretty severe, you know. Also, he's Navy."

Harry didn't comprehend what Jacob was getting at. The man sighed deeply.

"I'm Corsair. The Navy types don't consider us one of them. They think of us as undisciplined pirates who shame the Navy tradition. Some of the more bitter officers also blame the Corsairs' overall lack of success in the war to capture enough technology and intelligence for our defeat."

"That's.. silly. I'm sure you all did your best."

"Well I'm pretty sure that Pressly doesn't think so. He'll be a tough nut to crack."

"Do you know of any other specialists?"

"Not amongst the miners, no."

Jacob was holding something back. Harry had interrogated plenty of people to recognize evasion when he saw it. "You're not telling me something."

The marine kept his silence as his face grew more troubled. Eventually, he relented. "Most of the specialists the Batarians get their hands on are treated worse than you and me. You see, unlike us, they're in direct control of the few remaining human ships who continue to harass or elude the Batarian patrols. That's why there's very few knowledgeable spacers here. The men get interrogated harshly before being thrown into some gladiatorial spectacle or something just as gruesome. As for the women…"

Harry's eyes lighted up. "You mean those women that the Warden offers as a reward?"

"The Batarians have a cruel sense of justice, Harry. They don't find human women attractive, but they find it incredibly amusing if other men, human men, do their work for them. This is the aliens' way of punishing female combatants."

While Jacob felt disgusted, Harry brushed the subject aside, thinking nothing except for escape. "So is there a pilot or engineer among them?"

"Of the twenty or so women that I know of, none of them are pilots. Maybe a few marines, a couple of systems technicians, but… I heard from one contact that there's a pretty talented engineer among the recent arrivals."

"Who? Is it the girl from last week, or…?"

Jacob grimaced as he summoned up the terrified face. "It's the girl from this morning. Ms. Daniels."

Harry finally had cause to grin. An escape was actually possible! At the very least, the minimum ingredients were in his reach. If he could get both Pressly and Daniels on his side, the latter part of the escape would be set. The former part however…

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Harry." Jacob cautioned him, trying to dampen down expectations. "None of us ever successfully found our way out of this rock because it's practically impossible to sneak past the Batarian checks. There's nothing on this camp that could help with that."

'_Except for magic, perhaps.'_ Harry retorted, but kept it to himself. Despite Jacob's candidness Harry couldn't trust him completely. _'No one's that generous. He's got to have an angle. Everyone does.'_

"We'll figure something out." Harry proclaimed with overoptimistic assurance. "For now, let's do what we can. Perhaps you can try to crawl your way into Pressly's heart while I try to win this week's quota."

Jacob looked at Harry with disbelief. "I've been trying to get to Pressly ever since I arrived on this camp, and the competition to win the quota contest is very fierce, especially since she's fresh off the slave boat. With all of the deaths in your work unit, you'll have a tough time winning this week."

"I'll just have to figure that out too, then." Harry said grimly. "You said there were about twenty girls, right? Are they each rotated in order?"

Jacob nodded, causing Harry to curse.

"Just my luck, then. If I don't win this week's contest, I'll have to wait at least twenty weeks before I get another shot at her. I can't wait that long."

"I've been holding out a lot longer than that." The marine responded gently. "We can fantasize about escape all we want, but the fact is that we have very little resources to do so. I expected to prepare for at least for another ten years before I can make my own attempt."

'_Ten years?! I'll grow crazy if I wait that long!'_

"Fuck no, Jacob! I'd rather slit my throat than listen to Warden Chi'lak's speech for ten continuous years."

Harry turned around in his seat and tried to manipulate the alien controls of his computer terminal in vain. The machine made some strange beeps and noises but the boy had no idea what the device was doing. It didn't matter. He just wanted to do something else than be infected by Jacob's pessimism.

"Harry," Jacob sighed and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I don't mean to dash your hopes, but you shouldn't approach critical operations like these with a cavalier approach. Any escape by ship will have many different contingencies. If even one of them falls through, the entire plan is ruined. You have to bide your time and be patient if you want to maximize the odds."

The wizard understood in some way what Jacob was getting at, but Harry just didn't want to wait that long. He had seen how many long-term prisoners lose sight of what it means to be a human. Even Jacob himself was not entirely unaffected by this slow disease. If Harry gave in a little bit, the weeks would soon stretch out into months, which would gradually turn into years, decades, and even more. He just couldn't endure that long. "I don't have the patience to be patient, Jacob. One way or another, I'm getting off this rock, preferably within the month."

The Corsair didn't know how to respond to that. He shook his head, then, thinking that Harry would learn better once he began to realize how daunting it was to mount an escape. He had seen plenty of other recent arrivals with similar delusions, only to give in when their efforts proved fruitless.

"You shouldn't touch that." Jacob warned and gently brushed Harry's poking fingers away from the terminal. "You obviously have no clue what this is. Let me teach you at least."

The two very different human beings spent the rest of the hours before the curfew figuring out the computer system. Talk of escape didn't surface again between them that night.

* * *

**End Notes:** While this story is a HP/Mass Effect crossover, I try to write this story in a way that you don't need any knowledge of both universes. Also, I don't plan to follow or depend upon the canon storyline of either work. For Harry Potter, that means no Voldemort bullshit. That's over and history. For Mass Effect, it means the plot will not involve the Reapers (the main antagonists of the ME series) in any meaningful or substantial way. There are already too many stories that focus around them that I just want to write about something different. Something original. Something unexpected.


	4. I: Exceeding the Quota

September 30, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** I know that reading about an evil or dark Harry without morals is not everyone's cup of tea. Personally, I'm rather tired of reading fanfics centered around the vanilla 'saving-people-thing' hero. There's plenty of great stories, but I'm just tired of it. I have another story on my account with just that kind of heroic character called _The Star Alliance_ which people can read instead of this one.

For _Hegemony_ and my older story _Empire_, I've discerned two distinct patterns of critique concerning the dark nature of these fics. The first type of criticism is leveled by people who are not intolerant of dark content and OOC behavior and have little bias towards these fics. They usually complain about character inconsistencies, flaws in execution, poorly made decisions, and that kind of stuff. These are legitimate criticisms which I always take seriously to some level, though I am not always able to agree with them or incorporate the suggestions into my fic. The second type of criticism comes from people who are categorically opposed to Dark!Harry fics and mainly rant their displeasure to me in an angry or patronizing review.

These things happen, so I do not begrudge readers for being disappointed by my fic for any reason. In the same line, I do not really take any special notice of these types of reviews either. It is clear in the summary that _Hegemony_ deals with a Dark Lord type of Harry, and I do not excuse shaping a liberal interpretation of such a character. The categorical complaints I get are therefore of quite little value and won't change anything. If you happened to stumble across a yaoi fic and you hate that type of content (like me), you're not going to flame the author for writing a yaoi fic. If you stumble across a My Little Pony fic and you hate that as well, you're not going to rage on the bronies. In the same manner, if you don't like fics with main characters who are evil, you don't have to blame me personally.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_Exceeding the Quota_

* * *

It turns out the computer only contained a performance program on the mining progress on the asteroid. With some effort, Jacob managed to display the recent trends of each work unit's performance. Of the roughly fifty groups, Overseer Brendan, the winner of last week's quota contest, still remained in the lead. Harry's group slid from fourth to eleventh ever since he took over. _'This is bad. Even if every single one of my men is working their asses off, we won't get to the top that way.'_

Brendan struck rich and had a noticeable lead on the rest. The iridium veins weren't evenly distributed under the surface of the asteroid. Some sections of the vast mine had vastly higher concentrations. While the Batarians could direct work units to areas with higher yields, their mineral scanners weren't that precise due to electromagnetic interference from the blue sun, causing them to throw a lot of men in the general direction in the hope that at least a few groups get lucky.

"You're asking for a tall order here, Harry." Jacob warned the determined wizard. "Overseer Brendan has too much of a lead for you to catch up to. He's got twenty-five workers compared to your twenty-three, and today's yield shows he isn't running dry anytime soon."

"I'm not in the business of giving up before I start. I'll find a way."

As curfew went in effect and all the lights switched off, Harry lay on his bed contemplating the formidable task ahead of him. In order to get to Engineer Daniels and co-opt her into his escape plan, he needed to beat all the other horny overseers who are eager to get a piece of her, with Brendan at the lead.

'_Jacob's right in one way. The odds aren't in my favor.' _But in Harry's long life, he hadn't eluded thousands of wizards by giving up. _'Nothing's impossible. I just have to expand my frame of mind.'_

If Harry went about this contest fairly, he'd get nowhere. Cheating however…

A low chortle escaped his throat as Harry entertained several unsavory possibilities. If he was discrete enough, he might be able to tilt the odds in his favor.

'_I doubt the other overseers will just take it lying down though when they notice things will start to get weird. I have to be subtle about it. What magic can I use?'_

Not much, obviously. Harry didn't expect his wand to return in a matter of days. The worst case scenario is that his wand hadn't made the transition from Harry's native universe into this new and futuristic one. Crossing a dimensional barrier is not something that anything can do easily, though magic had a habit of breaking the rules. _'After all, if my device brought me here, then so can other things.'_

As for the magic he can cast himself, there wasn't much he could do. From very brief experimentations, he could cast weak versions of his most intimate spells that usually required a wand. Harry wasn't really into exotic magic when his Elder Wand turbo-charged each spell he cast, so he never really expanded his repertoire.

Still, if his _Expelliarmus_ could only disarm a single opponent, and with only a moderate amount of impact, then that meant that other, more complex spells would be pitifully weak. The only magic he was confident he could cast wandlessly were the simplest spells where there his energy needed only a minimum amount of refining. That meant that fancy effects such as Transfiguration was absolutely out of the question.

'_I can probably manage an _Accio_ and a _Reducto _since they're similar to _Expelliarmus_. An _Incendio_ should also be possible if I can refine my magic enough to produce my strongest element. A _Protego_… maybe. I'll probably fail with _Stupify_ and _Obliviate_ though. Mind magic is not my forte.'_

Besides this limited list of wand spells, what else did he have at his disposal? The Animagus form, and…

'_I haven't even considered Apparition yet!'_

He never really thought about whether Apparition could be done wandlessly since he always drew his Elder Wand whenever he performed any bit of magic. There were some cases where the wizards he hunted managed to apparate away before he learned to cast an anti-apparition ward. Some of them might not have been holding their wands… though they probably had it within their person somewhere.

'_Can I do it wandlessly? It's not a traditional spell in any means. It obeys different rules, much like the Animagus. And the main difficulty in apparition is not casting the spell, but concentrating on getting to your destination without splinching yourself.'_

Could Harry do it? Could he apparate without a wand? _'I'm not on Earth. There is no ambient magic here, nor is there a network of ley lines for my magic to orient from. I have to rely completely on my visualization without any other crutches to succeed.'_

Apparating under these magically barren circumstances meant Harry would mostly be groping in the dark much of the time. He had to get everything exactly correct. Any distraction might cause a ripple that could quickly cascade into a catastrophe. _'But I have to try it. There's no other choice.'_

He heaved off the bed and stood upright in the middle of his dark cell. He took only a few seconds to determine his destination and summoned up the well of his dormant magic for that ever-familiar feeling of-

_CRACK!_

An ear-deafening noise later found Harry suddenly standing atop his bed. The sudden motion and noise threw him off and he almost tripped to the floor. As Harry slowed his breathing, his grin grew wider and wider.

'_I can still apparate, even if I lost much of my finesse. The noise will be a problem indoors, but out in space… there's no sound at all.'_

Harry quickly dropped back into his bed, feeling more tired than usual. The apparition hadn't gone very smoothly due to any number of reasons that the wizard thought up earlier, but he could work with the restrictions.

* * *

The next day, the invigorated young overseer held a stern speech to his work unit. After they suited up and headed to their mining section, Harry addressed them together before they started drilling.

"Alright you men, enough slacking around. You had your time to mourn Stenson and that other idiot's passing, so get to work and mine that iridium."

Most of the men didn't take the orders very seriously. After all, they heard the same drivel each and every day.

Perhaps it was time to put more fear into their hearts. Harry reached a gloved hand down to his suit pocket and retrieved the same sharp shiv he worked over the guy from yesterday. That put the men on edge.

"I'm serious. If our work unit doesn't achieve the highest result by the end of the week, I'm going to stick this thing in one of your asses."

"B-But that's crazy! If you kill one of us, we all have to work harder to meet the quota."

"I don't care!" Harry yelled, and swung around his knife in a threatening manner. "I'm gonna win this week's contest with everything I got, so you better make sure you work at 100% effort if you want to keep your bowels intact."

"Brendan's group has too much of a lead on us. We'll never catch up even if we put all our backs into it."

"Then push yourselves beyond your limit. Deal with it." Harry growled, and then sent his men to work.

Everyone grudgingly started drilling, and soon Harry saw that they went about it with more gusto than before. _'It's still not enough.'_ He thought as they quickly fell into their usual habits and slacked off when Harry wasn't looking at them. When Harry tried to stand close, the workers begin to feel nervous and start to make mistakes.

'_Damnit, this is harder than I imagined.'_ He had to balance his presence with the personal space that the miners craved. Nobody found it pleasing to be scrutinized by their bosses every minute of their work shift.

Throughout the work shift, Harry started to look at the supply chain. He slowly stepped away from the depths of the mine and moved back to study the automated carts where the miners deposited the raw chunks of iridium ore. Despite their high-tech nature, their function was dead simple.

'_It looks like they start to close their hatches and hover back to the refinery once enough weight is deposited.'_

Harry stepped out of the mouth of the mine and into the open where the harsh blue sun glared down his filtered faceplate. The wizard looked at all the other mine entrances. Hover carts occasionally popped back in and out. Supervision here was light due to the absence of any personnel. Only a single Batarian watch tower stood in between the mines and the refinery built atop a low hill.

'_That tower is a problem. It will probably have cameras in addition to guards.'_

He could try to sabotage a cart by fiddling it with magic, but he'd have to get close without catching the guard tower's attention. But what would a single malfunctioning cart accomplish? _'Nothing. A single shipment won't affect Brendan's output that much. I can't stick around sabotaging more carts either because that will be bound to catch the Batarians' attention.'_

He juggled several different suggestions, from collapsing the mine shaft, to _Accio_-ing some iridium ore and apparating back to his own mineshaft. Many of these ideas were too convoluted to accomplish. If he tried to collapse a section, the stones would just drift around due to the minimal gravity of the asteroid.

Eventually he settled on a risky option. If he wanted to strike a meaningful blow against Overseer Brendan, then he needed to go right down to his resources.

First, he needed to get to his mineshaft. He let the welcoming magic out of his body, and with a soundless blink he reappeared at the busiest mine. Harry quickly walked further inside to avoid detection. He paused only to turn off his suit lights, and sneaked further inside the dark tunnel, using the lights from the moving carts to orient himself. At the first junction, Harry picked the left-most split in order to keep close to the walls. After several tense minutes of groping in the dark, he finally reached the end of the section where a group of four workers were drilling a rich bedrock and hauling the ore to a half-filled cart.

None of them noticed the intruder further back up the shaft. Harry intended to keep it that way. He had to make their deaths look like an accident. If anything pointed back towards him he would be in big trouble with the Batarians. An added difficulty was that he had to finish them off quickly before they would be able to report back to Brendan or anyone else who is tuned in to the local communication channel.

With his back to the wall, Harry raised an outstretched palm towards the oblivious workers. He felt no guilt for ending their lives. As far as he was concerned, this was just a means to an end. _'These guys are all scum anyhow. No one will miss them.'_

With a short minute of preparation, he yelled out "_Reducto!_" and released a flare of barely refined magic. The entire tunnel lit up as waste light exploded from Harry's palm and expanded to engulf the entire tunnel end. The entire section shook and various rubble separated from the walls. The miners themselves made a surprised gasp before being slammed against the rough iridium vein they were working on.

Unfortunately, the force wasn't enough to kill or seriously injure any of them outright. Their protective suits weren't rated as battle armor but they could withstand a scratch or two.

"Shit! Did we hit something flammable?!"

"Check Carson! He's not moving!"

Harry silently cursed to himself as the dust partially obscured his vision. _'My Reducto came out all messed up.'_ He remembered that the spell expanded quickly like a wave, causing it to lose its sharp concussive impact. _'It's hard to narrow it down without a wand.'_

The only solution was to try again. While the spell took a lot of pushing to get out, he could cast it several more times before he exhausted himself. Instead of holding out his open palm, he formed them into a chop with his covered fingertips pointing right at the confused jumble of miners.

The magic that flowed through his limbs were much more precise. Not quite a cut, but narrow enough to slam a miner against the rock face with the force of a bicycle crash.

After a minute or two of battering the miners with hard but not quite lethal blows, the tunnel behind Harry began to light up. _'They're coming to the rescue. I've got to get out of here.'_

Harry snarled a little and lowered his arm. The range and his lack of control didn't allow him to work over his four victims as thoroughly as he wished. He was hoping to puncture their suits at least, but that hasn't materialized. _'Hopefully they'll be out of the mines for a while.' _He thought, and apparated back to the mouth of his own mine with some effort.

While he planned to work up some other mischief on that same day, the wandless magical exertions seemed to tire him out much faster than expected. He gave up on his plans and spent the rest of the day trying to keep his men from slowing down.

* * *

Harry leaned back on his stiff chair with a satisfied nod as he digested the statistics the computer gave him. Overseer Brendan's output had suddenly plunged to nil shortly after his little visit. The wizard imagined that Brendan ordered a complete halt of all activities to recover his men and inspect all of the mine shafts for further vulnerabilities. Harry wondered whether the Batarians would excuse him for missing today's quota. _'Not that it matters. The loss of four men and a wasted day will put him out of the race.'_

With the clear lead taken out, the rest of Harry's competition should be easier to overcome. Of course, he couldn't risk pulling off the same trick again. Once was a coincidence. Twice was deliberate. He'd have to settle with more nuanced methods of sabotage. How troublesome.

"Harry." Jacob said as he entered the cell without an invitation. "We need to talk."

The boy calmly turned around his chair and faced his hesitant ally. "Do you have any updates regarding that navigator, that Pressly fellow?"

"What?" The larger man uttered, then his confusion cleared up. "I haven't spoken to Pressly yet." He shook his head, trying to get back to the point. "I'm here to talk to you about what happened to Brendan's group. What did you do? Rig their mining equipment?"

"I can barely make a drill change speed. How the hell can I make it blow up?"

The two looked at each other tensely.

"Harry, I know it's natural for newcomers like you to be eager to escape off this rock, but you're going too far with this obsession. The killing has to stop."

Harry snarled at the accusation. "I was defending myself with the first two fuckers who picked a fight with me. As for Brendan's men.. I doubt they'll be missed."

"That doesn't change the fact that they're human beings, Harry. Every life is precious, especially when the Batarians are treating us so callously. We should show solidarity to our own brothers, not descend into killing each other for greed."

The plea fell on deaf ears. Harry coolly stared at Jacob. "Your own work unit is still ahead of mine according to the computer. Try to slow your colleagues down, will you? I can focus my efforts on delaying the other groups."

"And," Harry raised his hand before Jacob opened his mouth. "Before you ask, I don't plan on killing anyone else. Even I know that it will attract too much attention."

After this short standoff, Jacob left Harry's cell in frustration. Harry wasn't sorry for placating his black friend further, but the soldier needed to learn that not everyone is willing to go along his waiting game.

As far as Harry was concerned, he didn't even really consider Jacob a friend. Sure, he helped in several ways and allowed Harry to pick himself up, but it was obvious that they mixed as well as oil and water. _'I'll keep playing nice for now… but once we escape this prison, it's hands off.'_

* * *

The following days, Harry tried to slow down his rival work units with several creative ways. As his own group maintained a steady output, he slowly took the others down a notch one by one. While some of his tricks succeeded, others failed.

One of his more successful pranks was causing a chump to trip on his feet during chow time. He happened to bowl over a group of chatting workers from another overseer. The resulting spill in food caused tempers to flare that quickly ignited into a brawl between the two work units. By the time the Batarians shocked their throat implants and subdued them, several slaves from both groups were too beaten up to return to the mines.

Harry only had a few spells at his disposal, and his control was wavering at best, so he kept his efforts simple. A few more superstitious workers started to murmur about a conspiracy of a sort, forcing Harry to slow down his efforts lest they connect the dots back to him. He had to keep the accidents and the brawls appear spontaneous and natural, and that was pretty hard to maintain when this week was already eventful enough with the collapse.

Some were whispering that even the Batarians started to turn their attention to the incidents.

'_The last thing I need is one of those freaks to turn one of their abundant eyes on me. So far I'm rising steadily in the ranking. Someone might be getting suspicious.'_

With two days before the deadline, Harry only had a limited window of opportunity to slow his remaining rivals down. He finished gulping down the last of his slop before removing himself from the table, relieving the pressure off his subordinates.

As he exited the mess hall, he came face to face with someone waiting for him. While the scruffy blond man didn't look too remarkable, his confident swagger instantly put Harry on edge. _'He's an overseer.'_

"Good eve, Overseer Harry. I'm Overseer Stuyvesant and I'd like to have a talk with you. Would you care to head up to my cell? I've got drinks on hand, though I'll warn you it's all Batarian swill."

Relieved that this wasn't some ambush, Harry lowered his guard and accepted the invitation. "I'll hold off on the drink, if that's okay."

"Suit yourself."

Harry followed the other overseer back to the same section where his own cell is located. After entering the abode the overseer ripped off a metal panel and retrieved a bottle filled with black swirly liquid. Stuyvesant ripped off the cap and took a swig straight from the bottle.

"Ah, that gets my stomach going." The host wiped his mouth and appraised Harry with a critical eye. "Maybe it's just as well you refused. You could use a few more years before starting with this drink."

"Why have you invited me here?" Harry let out, exasperated with the small talk.

Stuyvesant lowered his bottle and regarded his fellow overseer seriously. "I'm sure you're well aware of the recent.. troubles the other groups suffered, including yours, which allowed you to take leadership. Only the top performing groups are affected, strangely enough."

'_Shit. I missed that detail. I should have mixed up my targets.'_ Harry thought as he tried to suppress his frown.

"Regardless of whoever is behind these incidents, it happens that both our units are rising up in the rankings. What I'm requesting from you is simple: cut back a little and allow my group to take the lead. Ms. Daniels is quite a lovely lady and I have a thing for redheads. They make the most delightful screams."

As soon as Stuyvesant made his intentions known, Harry couldn't hide his displeasure anymore. _'How dare this fucking fancy talker try to talk me down.'_

"And I'm supposed to do this on the kindness of my heart?"

"I only want the redhead, that's all." The rival overseer smiled with a hint of malice. "I'll let my men take it easy for next week and give you the space to win the bitch the warden offers next. Is this fair enough for you?"

"Sorry, but no."

Despite Harry's refusal, Stuyvesant kept his irritating smile. "I understand you're pretty new into this overseer business, so let me teach you a lesson."

At the snap of his fingers, a handful of his mean poured through the entrance and cut off Harry's escape. Stuyvesant's men all looked ready for a brawl as they held their polymer food trays as weapons.

"Never go alone, kid." The other overseer said, and grasped his half-empty bottle only to smash it against his desk. He stepped closer, pointing the jagged end of the broken bottle at Harry. "Forget my last offer. I think I'll just take all the bitches from now on."

'_Damnit, I was too complacent! How the hell am I going to get out of this mess now?!'_ With frantic eyes, Harry desperately tried to find a way to escape this ambush. There were too many thugs. If he used any form of magic, one or two would doubtless slip away and warn every one of his true capabilities. That would certainly be a losing proposition.

"Don't worry, Harry. I'm not going to kill you yet. I'll just cripple one of your arms as a deposit. If you do as I ask, I won't return to mess your other arm."

Stuyvesant and his men quickly cornered him in the unfamiliar cell. As a last resort, Harry considered transforming into a bull and using their surprise to gore and trample them all before they can get over the sight. It was by no means a fool proof plan, but it was better than slinging half-assed _Reductors_.

As Harry prepared to stress his tired body, a sudden commotion at the entrance caught Stuyvesant's attention.

Of all the people who entered the cell, Conrad Verner barged in like a chicken on fire. "Overseer Harry! I saw you needed some help so I came!"

Conrad looked ridiculous, coming here by himself. He hadn't even bothered to take his tray so he was completely unarmed against at least five burly fighters.

"Please don't tell me you came alone."

The toady grinned, and soon enough seven additional men entered the cell. Harry's men. While he recognized a few timid men amongst them who were likely trying to suck up to him like Conrad, he also recognized two rebellious trouble makers. To say that Harry was surprised that they would lift a finger to help him out was an understatement.

"You're our boss, Harry." Conrad proudly explained. "We can't let another overseer bully us around and get away with it."

Stuyvesant meanwhile appeared strained and lost his arrogant smile. He was outnumbered and he knew it. "Tch. I should have brought my entire crew."

He grudgingly turned to Harry. "It seems we won't be making the deal after all. You can go."

Now it was Harry's turn to smile, and smile he did. Slowly he rose himself up so that his chest puffed out. "Mr. Stuyvesant, I think that is a little bit too generous of me. I can't just let your insult stand. Let's say we make a new trade. I beat you all up and you will fall behind in the quota. If you follow our deal, I won't come back to kill you."

"Y-You won't get away with this." The suddenly outnumbered overseer stammered as he waved his broken bottle around. "Besides, my men aren't pushovers. We'll bloody you bad!"

"Let's put that to the test, shall we?" Harry mused, and then ordered Conrad and the rest to attack. "Charge!"

Harry threw himself at Stuyvesant and silently cast an _Expelliarmus_ that loosened the older man's grip on the bottle. The spell wasn't strong enough to fling the bottle away, but Stuyvesant faltered enough for Harry to even the odds.

The weight of numbers quickly finished the rest of the work.

* * *

The kerfuffle ended decisively in Harry's favor. Conrad turned out to be a lousy fighter who embarrassingly got knocked out by a single punch, but the other men he managed to convince to come along more than compensated for him. Harry and his underlings beat the crap out of their rivals, but Harry stopped short of killing them or even breaking their bones.

"The Batarians are probably pissed off that so many workers have fallen into fights or accidents." He explained to his men as he forcefully ended their fun. "We don't want them barging in our cells in the middle of the night."

That quickly deflated their excitement. Harry herded his men back to his cells, making sure that someone carried Conrad back to his own. _'I can't believe an idiot like him saved my ass.'_

If only he hadn't made such a rookie mistake. Harry needed to be more careful from now on. He couldn't trust anyone, not Conrad nor Jacob. Everyone wanted something from him, and plenty wouldn't shed a tear if he got shanked one day.

'_It's shit like this that I decided to fight the Wizarding World alone.'_

If not for his need for a navigator and an engineer, he wouldn't have bothered wasting time in this camp. _'I doubt I can apparate out of this rock and all the way back to Earth, though. I need a space ship, and a crew to operate the vessel.'_

Harry doubted he could acquire the complex technical skills required to become a competent specialist. The way Jacob portrayed it, you needed to study just as much to become a doctor to be a fully certified ship crewman. Space travel and combat was at least that much complex. And considering the breakdown of human society and the loss of countless schools, trained specialists were hard to come by.

Pressly and Daniels were absolutely essential to Harry's plans. He was willing to abandon some of his principles and work together with the likes of Jacob if it meant securing those vital people. He didn't have any other choice.

* * *

"This week has been an absolute disaster!" The warden raged atop his platform. "Never in the history of this colony did so many of you maggots screw up! Overall production is seven percent lower than last week. I can't let this insolence stand!"

Almost everyone but Harry knew what that meant. One particular group of miners suddenly shuddered in fear. They quickly collapsed in agony as their throat implants delivered painful shocks to their bodies.

"The worst performing lot out of you stay here."

It appeared much was in store for them. Harry didn't feel compassion for their plight. He waited for the news to arrive.

"At least one of you worms managed to soldier on despite missing two of their number." The warden spat. "Since all you other pink skins proved too incompetent to get your output stable, this week's prize will go to Overseer Harry."

A bloom of elation blossomed from his heart. _'Yes!'_ All his efforts weren't in vain. He succeeded over so many other rivals in this eventful week. But Harry knew very well that the real work was about to begin. _'It won't be easy forcing Gabrielle to come over to my side.'_

Luckily enough, Harry had a wealth of prior experience to draw on when it came to coercing women. He considered himself a master in this field. _'They all bend their heads eventually if I press them hard enough.'_

Already his out-of-practice erection throbbed at the thought of being left alone with a single, attractive woman.

Soon enough, as most of the crew left for the mess hall, a pair of Batarian guards entered the assembly chamber and blindfolded Harry with a simple domed helmet. They then guided him out of the complex through unfamiliar twists and turns until they pushed him to a seat. From the noise and movements that Harry could hear and feel he guessed they deposited him on a hovercar of some sorts.

A few minutes of tranquil travel passed before they entered into some kind of hangar bay in another part of the mining camp. The soldiers pulled Harry out of the car and led them further inwards until they pushed him into a room, removing the blinding helmet.

"Don't be too rough on the cow, overseer." One of the guards cautioned Harry as he moved to lock the automated door. "She has to suffer at least twelve years before she's allowed to die."

With the closing of the door, Harry was left alone. He gazed around the room and found the interior to be decorated much differently than normal. Instead of cold metal, he encountered soft colors and warm drapes. A small table sat in the center with a plate of basic but delicious human food. Of course, the main attraction is the queen-sized bed, where Gabrielle Daniels sat in fear.

Harry smirked at her discomfort, and took a seat at the table. The food was relatively simple. Bread, soup and chicken, but to Harry they might as well be gifts from the gods. He broke a piece of bread and began to soak it in the soup. His eyes briefly strayed on the uniformed beauty who still kept her distance.

"You're welcome to take a bite. Gabrielle, is it? I'm Harry."

"It's Gabriella, but call me Gabby at least."

After a few minutes of quiet eating, the redhead relented, and eagerly stepped forward to snatch a chicken drum before retreating back. Her caution and fear amused Harry, and reminded him of better times when he had hundreds of slaves to choose from. Gabby would be his first conquest in this new and virgin universe, and he intended to savor the experience.

Harry couldn't traumatize Gabby too hard, however. He still needed her to be pliant enough to swear loyalty to him and be ready to serve as an engineer aboard any Batarian space ship he managed to hijack. As the eager boy finished up the last of his soup, he stood up and approached the bed.

"S-Stay back! Please!" The engineer mewled in her delightful American accented voice. "I have training!"

She knew some moves alright, but her strength left much to be desired. Harry overwhelmed her easily enough and pushed her hands against the bed. Pure lust exploded from his eyes as he leered at his captive. He bent down and smelled her clean soapy skin.

"Delicious."

Gabby still had some fight in her and tried to fend Harry off her body. Harry smacked her hard and continued to backhand her face until she calmed down. Tears weltered from her eyes as her bruised face made a plea for mercy.

"Please.. we're both humans. Don't do this. I'll jerk you.."

"As if that's going to satisfy me." Harry growled, and grasped her shirt and tried to rip it apart. Unfortunately, the material is stronger than he thought, forcing him to pull it over her head instead. Now that her bare chest was revealed, he started to grope and mangle them painfully. Gabby cried out in pain and battered her weak fists against Harry's arms.

"The fun is just starting, bitch."

The night descended into a rollercoaster of torture and pleasure. Harry ruthlessly took his pleasure from Gabby's body, not caring for her wellbeing at all. For the first time in a long while Harry let go of his inhibitions and took out his hatred for the Batarians, the slave camp and everything else that is fucked up in this universe on her innocent body.

Even as he painfully ripped apart her virginal walls, he pounded her body until she became a blubbering mess. Sometimes Gabby moaned in involuntary pleasure as Harry tweaked her modest bosom or her excitable crotch with his fingers. Other times her screams turned hoarse as he choked off her air or pumped into her canal.

'_This is what I want. This is my chosen fate. It feels so good to be back in the sack.'_

Many times, fate and other manipulative individuals sought to take advantage of Harry. Even during much of his war against the Wizarding World, the fugitive was forced to abide by the realities of the day. The only times when Harry felt in control of his life was when he dominated over a captive. To have their lives in the palm of his hands and break down their carefully crafted exterior was a delight he craved for continuously.

He threw Gabby unceremoniously to the ground and sat on her upper chest, crushing the girl and presenting his tool to her. She weakly tried to push Harry off. "You're pressing me.. please… get off."

"Call me Master."

"Master.. please.."

He loved games like this. He ordered her to suck him off, promising that he would leave her alone once she brought him to a climax. He did take a pause, but returned to manhandling her in an hour. He grasped her hair and hauled her head around as if she was his personal basketball. He threatened to do worse things to her if she didn't call him Master and swear eternal servitude to him.

"I understand, Master! I'll do whatever you want! Please don't hurt me again, sir." Gabby begged in her soiled, naked state and lowered herself to her knees before her gloating owner.

"You're going to be my good little slave from now on, won't you?"

"Yessir, I'll be good."

When she did everything Harry asked, he sadistically broke his promise and entered the single remaining orifice that he deliberately left untouched.

Having lost two of her maidenhoods already, the third and most egregious one broke her sanity. She collapsed, sobbing in torment as Harry slowly eased the tight and painful opening. He had worked much of the previous hours to this moment and he intended to savor the moment as he had done many thousands of times before. It never got old to him as he stripped away a woman's dignity. _'She's mine now. For the rest of her life she's going to remember this night.'_

All concerns about recruiting her into his conspiracy and gaining her cooperation had left his mind long ago. For the next few hours until he dropped from exhaustion, the universe only comprised of him, his slave, and this lavishly decorated room. Nothing else mattered to the both of them as Harry continued to harass his new toy.

Many hours later, the lights have dimmed and Harry finally surrendered to exhaustion. Next to him, laying on the same bed soiled with sweat and other body fluids, Engineer Gabriella Daniels sobbed quietly to herself as spikes of pain continued to assault her bruised body and organs. She hoped this was the last time she would ever see that despicable monster disguised in human form.

Gabby was so very wrong.

* * *

**End Notes:** I can't go in more explicit detail than this due to rating restrictions, so I'm keeping this chapter relatively kid-friendly *wink* *wink*.


	5. I: Negotiated Agreement

October 1, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** By far the most critical comments I receive for _Empire_ and the current _Hegemony_ are about how Harry is dumb, stupid, irrational, sex addict, and basically does a load of things that a hundred year war veteran like him ought not to do. I can understand the frustration here, but this is a deliberate part of Harry's character design. Just look at the world and see the millions of drug addicts who will do horrible things just to feed their next heroin shot. Humans are not rational, and an unhinged personality like Harry is even much less so.

As observers who are witnessing the events in the story as a bystander, it is very easy to point out any poorly made decisions. That is one of the effects of the third person perspective. I'm sure most of you are familiar with horror movies, when the music turns creepy the soon-to-be dead victims will make extremely poor choices and get themselves killed when practically all of the audience is thinking _'Don't do that!'_ This fic is kind of like that.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_Negotiated Agreement_

* * *

After a good night's sleep, Harry awoke with a Cheshire grin. _'Merlin, I missed having pussy.'_ While it might not have been the best idea to violently ravage a potential ally, he just couldn't miss this opportunity. Like an addict who craved his next fix of poison, the former Dark Lord practically threw away everything else just to have a chance on a girl. It was one of his lesser known secrets which some devious witches have used to pull him into a trap.

Harry turned his head towards the beaten and bruised redhead. Gabby Daniels still slept soundly, having embraced the peace of the night with open arms. Well, figuratively, as Harry used her dirty undergarments to tie up her limbs to the bed. The wizard might not be the brightest one on the block but he wasn't that stupid. His grin grew wider and his loins started to stir at the sight of her helpless beauty. He reached out and greedily groped her bosom, knowing that he wouldn't be able to enjoy her body much more.

"Ah!" She cried, the pain startling her awake.

"Good morning, slave."

As soon as Harry mentioned that dreaded word, Gabby's eyes turned away in defeat. "H-Hello.. Master."

Her submission stirred Harry up even more. He lifted up from the bed and sat over the naked girl, his excitement pressed between the valley of her chest. Harry pressed them together, and while they weren't fat enough to form a perfect enclosure, the soft skin gave him enough pleasure anyway.

Gabby moaned in pain as Harry treated her body roughly. "You've already had your way." And she hastily added "Master."

"Not quite." Harry responded, keeping his pace sedate. He didn't want to bust his nut too early, and the folds of her flesh were too heavenly. He let go one of his hands and brushed it against her cheek, which caused her to turn away in shame. The boy leaned closer, whispering, "I need you to do one more thing for me, dear Gabby. You see, I'm planning to mount an escape. When, I don't know, but I need an engineer and you're pretty nice."

"Why the hell would I help you get away?" She hissed, a part of her defiance flaring out, only to be met by a brutally hard slap on the cheek.

"Insolent wench! You forget yourself!" Harry barked, instantly cowing her into submission again. He twisted her chest painfully, distracting her from everything but his words. "I'm your Master now. You follow my orders above others, and my orders to you are to sit back, wait for the escape to go underway, and gain control over any ship we capture. Is that clear?"

"Yes Master!"

Harry relented his torture and went back to rubbing his morning wood against her skin. "Good. Besides, don't you want to escape this hellhole? As soon as we reach a human ship or settlement, I won't have a need of you anymore. You can go back to your old life serving alongside your old friends and family. Wouldn't you like that?"

She nodded eagerly like a puppy.

"Freedom can be yours, if you obey me for now like a good little slave." He petted her head affectionately, and she didn't mind as Harry wasn't hurting her. Gabby had learned midway through her torture that Harry wouldn't hurt her too much if she kept him happy. Just as Harry intended.

'_I'll train her good once I get a ship.'_ Harry smirked, and then raised his body forward until his pole rested right on Gabby's nose. Her eyes strained to stare at the throbbing organ and her nose became assaulted by all of the smells of yesterday.

"In order to seal the deal, let's have one final romp. Which hole should I choose?"

Her eyes widened, and she grew troubled as she tried to choose an answer that would not destroy her completely.

In vain, of course.

* * *

Harry's afterglow was apparent as he returned to the slave barracks and supervised the new week's mining shift. He appeared to gain a new respect from his work unit. They tried to press him for details but his British modesty adamantly refused to let him boast. _'My private life is private.'_ So he doggedly kept the details to himself, leaving the speculating workers to fill in the blanks with their imagination.

Besides being regarded as a man for once, Harry's relative leniency made the men more comfortable around him. The overseer didn't care too much about this week's girl so he pressed his workers just enough to comfortably meet the minimum quota. To be honest, his thoughts were distracted on his next moves.

'_I've got an engineer in the bag. Jacob is supposed to get close to Pressly but he got nothing done so far, so I'll have to do that personally. I'll also have to figure out the most difficult part of the plan: sneaking me and whoever I want to take from the slave barracks all the way to the space port.'_

He could apparate there if he had been there before, but he hadn't. Just having a picture or a camera feed of the space port wouldn't work either because he needed to have a full sensory feel for the location in space. If he had a wand, he could turn a piece of iridium into a portkey, hide it in a shipment and teleport to the port at the right moment. But his Elder Wand was still lost in transition, and he couldn't afford to wait an unknown period for it to return in his hands.

In order to escape the Delta-349 asteroid, he had to do it under his own power. He also had to prove to himself that he was more than a wizard than just his wand. Before this ever happened, he hadn't imagined ever being separated by his stubborn Hallow. That crutch now bit him back hard.

'_I'll have to keep my eyes open for any weak points.'_ He concluded, and went back to making sure the workers didn't slack too much.

At chow time, the respect they afforded their overseer became more obvious. While Harry wasn't and would likely never be their comrade, they didn't regard him with loathing or fear. They joked around and bantered about silly topics as if he wasn't there, which Harry found to be for the best. Conrad was the only subordinate who dares to address his boss directly, asking him if he needed a second helping of rations and stuff like that. His desire to serve Harry was amusing, if unnecessary. _'I don't need anyone wiping my butt when I take a shit.'_

In order to distract his butler from offering more favors, Harry instead turned to him directly. "Tell me about yourself, Conrad. Where were you raised?"

The question flubbed the blond for a moment. "Me?" His chest puffed up. "Well, I'll have you know that I was a proud part-time soldier of the Fifth Fleet!"

"Part-time soldier? What the heck does that mean? You're either enlisted or civilian."

"W-Well I was a special case." Conrad quickly retorted, then adopted an easy smile that convinced no one. "I grew up on the _MSV Pyrite Queen_, a beautiful Athabasca Class transport. I didn't have officers as parents, but despite this I resolved to become an elite protector of my fleet, so I enlisted and worked my way through training on my own strength."

"So how did you end up here, Conrad?"

"Well, I got captured early on." He admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "A scout discovered a lightly defended Batarian outpost, so I volunteered to go first and lead our men into glory. It was a trap, and I got captured in the end, but we made the Batarians pay a heavy price for their victory."

"Huh." Harry released, not sure what to make of the story. From Conrad's performance in the scuffle against Stuyvesant, he had been as tough as a baby. The wizard trawled for more information, wanting to know how humans fared outside this prison camp. "Tell me about the Fifth Fleet."

"Not much to tell." Conrad shrugged. "It's a centuries-old remnant from the Batarian Conquest. It used to number in the hundreds but now it's whittled down to a little over fifty. Most of them aren't Mass Effect capable but we've been steadily capturing more and more from the Batarians from time to time."

"The fleet isn't doing well, is it?" Harry asked when he noticed the somber looks by Conrad and several of his men.

"The Batarians are tightening the noose on all of the fleets." One of the burly men spoke up, Ventura, if Harry was correct. "They've gotten better at hunting them. It's only a matter of time before they get shitty luck and get cornered by a Batarian assault fleet."

Conrad tried to cheer up the mood. "Now, now, don't be so down. The Shepard will come save us all."

Ventura and most others snorted or made disgusted sounds. "We've been waiting for the Shepard to save us for over two hundred years now. He ain't coming."

This sparked a fierce debate between Conrad and the rest.

"I'm telling you, the way the higher ups are talking about it, the Shepard is real." Conrad insisted. "The Remnant probably had some hiccups along the way but they're telling us the time is soon."

"Oh come on, the Shepard is just a failed project like all the other crazy ideas the eggheads cooked up for the brass."

"He's real. I know it. The Savior of Mankind will come to free us from the Batarians someday. When that day comes, I shall stand by his side."

"Heh, dream on Conrad!"

Harry found the myth about the Shepard amusing but of little value. It was clear however that humanity roamed the void between the stars for at least two-hundred years like scuffling rats. They had a lot of ships, but without repairs and maintenance they deteriorated slowly, making it harder and harder to stay ahead.

It was a sad existence for the remnants of a once-proud race. Harry felt a little ambivalent then. _'Am I a human, or am I a wizard?'_

He couldn't really answer that question, to his displeasure. He set it aside and finished chugging the remains of his brown nasty goo.

'_Where's Jacob?'_

After a few minutes of scanning the large hall, he located the distinct black man and approached him as he stepped up from his own seat. He jerked his head to the cells, but Harry ignored his suggestion.

"Where's Pressly?" Harry asked in a whisper when he pulled Jacob away from the crowd.

"I can show you to him later, but first, did you succeed with Specialist Daniels?"

"I got through her alright and convinced her to help me with the plan." The wizard couldn't prevent a smirk from forming. "I've got her thoroughly in my pocket."

Jacob nodded, oblivious of Harry's deeper meaning. "We can rescue her from this hell. Damn Harry, I didn't expect you to get this far so fast. Still.." His face grew more troubled. "There are a lot more roadblocks ahead of us. We're not accomplishing much, you know. Having just the right crew is the easiest part of an escape. I still haven't found a hole in the Batarian defenses."

"We'll deal with that later after Pressly is taken care of. Now can you introduce me to him or not?"

"Sure…" The Corsair lead Harry back to the mess hall and honed in on a table in the corner. "I'll have to warn you though that Pressly can be.. difficult. He's been in this camp for more than twenty years. Staying captive for that long will do things to you."

* * *

For a former naval officer who had survived the camp for over twenty years, Harry expected more. Pressly was a gruff-looking man with a balding, stubbed head. He chatted little with his mates, preferring to grunt every once in a while. As soon as he noticed Jacob his expression instantly darkened.

"I told you not to bother me again, Corsair."

"I'm not here on my own account." Jacob said as he raised his hands in a placating manner. "My friend Harry here would like to have a word with you in private."

Bitter eyes swung towards emerald green ones, then scanned downwards. They were not impressed. "Is he marine? Corsair? Navy?"

"No, but.."

"Then don't waste my fucking time." Pressly interrupted and decisively turned away his head.

Harry clenched his fist at Pressly's derogatory dismissal, but a few of his companions quickly took note and started to make threatening noises. _'Damnit.. I can't beat him into submission like I did with Gabby.'_ He loosened his fists and took a deep breath. _'I have to earn his respect first.'_

"Do you know who I am, Pressly?"

"You're the new overseer, so what?"

"I killed one man to take over the position and killed another to defend my status. I'm not some kid you can ignore." Harry then slipped a hand into his pocket and flashed his iridium shiv. "I might not be Alliance, but I've fought more in a day than you have in twenty years."

The navigator instantly exploded from his seat and snatched Harry's collar. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY HONOR! I served on ships long before you were a shit-rolling toddler! I defended my fleet from dozens of Batarian raids and sacrificed my freedom for you sorry lot!"

The wizard declined to say anything in return. Harry kept his eyes firmly on Pressly's and tore his calloused hands away from his shirt.

"I don't see an Alliance officer in front of me. I don't even see a soldier at all. All what's left in you is the grinded slave the Batarians turned you into." Harry leaned forward and whispered, "If you still have an inch of a fight left in you, come see me in private."

The boy retreated and turned around to leave. That was the best he could do for the moment. If Jacob was right, and Pressly was a stubborn son of a bitch, he needed to work at him slowly. This confrontation might not deliver much result, but Harry hoped that Pressly would eventually grow curious. If the old man could just direct his animosity towards the Batarians instead of his languishing fate, then Harry had something to work with. All it took was patience. _'Fuck, now I'm sounding like Jacob.'_

On each day, Harry tried to establish a routine. When his work group and him went to the mine shaft and back to the barracks he took the scenic route. The other men grew annoyed at this and thought Harry was just curious. They were partially right. By studying the open expanse between the different camp structures he got a better picture on the overall working of Delta-349.

While mining, Harry executed his duties as an overseer in a consistent manner. He didn't try to outperform everyone else anymore, taking off the heat that had been building on him since he was determined to win Gabby in the quota contest. With middling but adequate output, he insured neither the Batarians nor his rivals gave him grief.

The ambitious wizard also worked on Pressly, visiting him in the mess hall or at his cell during off-shift hours. Harry was careful not to visit on too many days, and gave the old Alliance navigator plenty of food for thought. Pressly's stubborn pride made it hard for Harry to get a lot of ideas through, but he always held on to his absolute hatred against the Batarians.

"Do you think you are striking back at the four-eyed freaks?" Harry threw in one day. "It's the opposite! You've been working as a miner for them for two decades now. How many tons of iridium have you supplied them with in their war effort?"

"You don't know anything about my service record!" Pressly yelled back, eyes full of fire. "I helped kill many bug eyes!"

"And now you're helping the bug eyes killing humans. Perhaps you've supplied them with so much iridium that their kill list has outgrown yours."

"…" The navigator was on the verge of blowing up, but abruptly lost his rage. "Alright," He spoke with a defeated tone. "I give in. I can't do this anymore. I don't have many years left. If whatever suicidal plan you're cooking up will let me kill a few more Batarians, then I'm in."

Harry grinned victoriously. His persistence had paid off.

But before the ringleader left Pressly's cell, the navigator held him back. "One thing, overseer. If by some fluke of luck your wild plan succeeds and we take over a ship, it becomes a fleet operation. The most senior officer will take over command, if you don't mind."

"We can cross that bridge when we get there." Harry waved away the request. _'To hell I'll let you call the shots.'_

* * *

Harry had procured an engineer, a navigator who could double as a pilot, and a marine. While he was reasonably sure he could sneak a small group of four to the space port, he had very little margin of error when things hit the fan. The wizard needed one more component: cannon fodder.

He decided to take a risk, and summoned Conrad to his cell. While he eventually planned to call upon the other workers in his work unit, the risk of exposure was too great. _'No, it's better to get Conrad first, and let him plant suggestions on the rest. By the time my plan is ready, I can ambush them with the offer and leave them with no time to leak it to the Batarians.'_

"You called for me, sir?" Conrad greeted Harry deferentially. Despite his advantage in height, size and age, Harry found it funny how eager Conrad bent to any superior. That also made him a security risk. If the Batarians decide to question him for some reason, Harry had no doubt that Conrad would break within the minute. _'Well I can't always play it safe.'_

"Take a seat, Mr. Verner."

He sat on the bed, and then became quickly surprised at the softness of the mattress. "You sure live in luxury."

"I didn't ask for you to talk about my bed, Conrad." Harry snapped, drawing back his subordinate's full attention. "There is something delicate that you should know. I haven't been spending my time here in vain. I have been planning an escape for some time."

Harry explained a few things but kept most details hidden in case he decided to spill it to someone who wanted notify the Batarians. He only needed to give up just enough information to make his plan sound credible. "The key is the space port, and hitting it whenever a Batarian transport is docked there. I need loyal, motivated marines to overpower the Batarian crew. I need men."

"I'm sure the gang will love it once I tell them what you're up to!"

"No!" Harry ordered firmly, and bore his eyes down on his lackey to make sure he got the message. "You will not reveal any of what you just heard to others. I trust you know how to keep a secret? I'll be very disappointed if you don't."

"You don't have to worry about anything, sir. I swear I'll take your secrets to the grave."

'_Sure you will._' Harry cynically thought, but at least he was fairly certain that Conrad took the responsibility somewhat seriously. "Probe the men. Find out who will buy into the plan and who will rather rat us out to the Batarians."

Conrad made a military-esque salute as if he was still a marine. "I won't let you down, sir. I know you can get us out of here."

Despite Harry's concerns, Conrad was able to demonstrate some form of tact when he put his mind into it. Under Harry's watchful eyes, he broached the subject cautiously, probing them of their ideas on staying here versus the risk and reward of an escape. When Harry deliberately left his men alone, they were sure to discuss the idea in greater detail.

While Conrad worked his magic, Harry immersed himself with the next step. Previous scouting trips revealed little except for the positions of guards towards and other minor facilities. Very few vehicles travel between the mining camp and the space port. Only one regular hovertruck departed from the refinery with what Harry assumed to be containers of refined iridium to the space port, but he didn't know what happened after that. _'I need to get a look at the space port and see if there are any ships there.'_

The only problem was that the space port was located on the other side of the potato-shaped asteroid. This presented several complications. First, in areas without artificial gravity his magnetized boots slowed him to a walking pace. That meant he needed to hitch a ride from the hovertruck and apparate back, both of which came with different risks.

Second, in case of an actual escape, anyone who walked outside the mining camp's perimeter immediately received a lethal shock from his throat implant. While Harry inadvertedly destroyed his own implant upon transforming into his Animagus form, he still needed to take care of the implants of anyone else he took along.

While he mulled over the implant issue, Harry waited until it was the end of the week, when the truck soon departed for the space port after being loaded with yesterday's output. The wizard quickly returned to the mess hall, rushed through half his grub before passing along the rest to Conrad before leaving the crowded hall. As soon as he was out of sight, he returned to his personal cell and put on the vacuum suit he smuggled out a few days earlier. As soon as he was protected against space, he apparated out of the slave compound, outside of the limits of the mine, and straight to the roof of the refinery.

After huddling down and making sure nothing spotted him, he silently waited for the iridium truck to exit the garage and fly towards the port.

'_I hope this won't take too long.'_

The car departed on schedule, and Harry jumped off the refinery and dove towards the truck like a rocket. Due to the minimal gravity, the inevitable impact did no damage, and the magnet boots locked him on to the vehicle as it accelerated rapidly. As Harry hung on to the roof of the vehicle, he hoped dearly that the Batarians weren't paying too much attention to cast their gaze in his direction. It helped that the truck floated far above the ground, causing all the cameras and guards to see the underside of the hovering truck instead of the top.

After a rough twenty-minute journey, the truck started to decelerate rapidly, stressing Harry's boots. _'These g-forces are prying off my grip!'_ Harry quickly leaned out and looked down and about.

The space port is a small and simple affair, to be honest. Delta-349 didn't warrant more than two open docking platforms. The truck went straight towards the sole, dormant Batarian transport docked at the port. At the truck's approach, the dumpy ship opened its rear hatch, revealing a cargo hold that was three-fourth's filled with containers.

'_This truck carries four containers, so that means… one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight, eight minus four is four. There's only one week left before the ship is filled to the brim.'_

That made sense. A transport ship wouldn't sit idle for ages. When this transport left Delta-349, no ship was scheduled to visit the asteroid for Merlin knows how long.

'_Damnit. One week is too short to make a decision. I'll either have to catch this ride in the short time it's still here, or I'll have to wait several months before another ship arrives to take the next containers of iridium.'_

Fully distracted by this new and uncomfortable timing issue, Harry apparated back to his cell without noticing how effortless he performed it in an alien environment. _'One week is not enough to insure the loyalty of my muscle, but there's no way I'm going to miss this opportunity. Any amount of bad luck can happen between now and when the next ship arrives.'_

* * *

Two days before the end of the week, Harry gathered all of his core conspirators to his cell after chow time. They all entered the cell uneasily, having deduced that the boy was close to success. Jacob and Pressly took a seat at the bed while Conrad stayed on his feet guarding the corridor from any eavesdroppers.

"We will make our attempt in two days." Harry started bluntly, igniting a storm of surprise from the two Alliance personnel.

"That-that's preposterous! I've been looking for holes for many years. How can you claim to have a plan already when you're barely here for a month?"

"That's because I'm looking at this problem with a fresh mind." Harry responded. "Trust me, I've done this before."

The others didn't completely buy it. Jacob swept his eye on his lazy posture and found it wanting. "You don't appear to have Alliance training."

Pressly agreed. "You're right Jacob. He looks kind of shifty.. like a smuggler.. or a pirate."

The mere mention of the word 'pirate' caused an instant well of disgust to surface. Even Conrad looked disturbed.

"Pirate?" Harry asked innocently, feigning ignorance. It helped that he actually didn't know what the fuss is all about, allaying Jacob's suspicions.

"Pirates… raid other human ships. Batarian ships are always better equipped, so the truly desperate resort to preying on our own kind to make ends meet. I'm surprised your escape ship hasn't encountered them one time or another." The black man crossed his arms and maintained his serious expression. "One of my duties as a Corsair is to track them down before they do more damage. Harry doesn't look the type."

"Hah, could have fooled me." Pressly grumped, but dropped the issue in favor of the real reason why they were gathered here. "So tell me about your plan already."

The wizard dutifully exposed his plan, rushing the parts where magic was involved. "I've worked out that a hovertruck leaves the refinery at the end of every week. It travels to the other side of the asteroid where the space port is located, where currently a half-filled transport is waiting for one final shipment. That's why we need to make our move so soon."

Jacob frowned. "Do you seriously expect us to evade all of the guard towers and the security cameras to reach the refinery? That's at least three kilometers away."

"Yes… we can't reach the refinery by foot. However, we can use the quota contest to our advantage. Whoever wins this week's contest will be brought to the prison house where all the women are housed. When the Batarian guards are leading the lucky overseer inside their hovercar, we can ambush them and take the vehicle for ourselves.

"Clever. I'm impressed." Jacob admitted. "I've never even considered using that car."

"The car looks like a troop transport but it doesn't fit too many people. Still, we can cram my work unit if some of us sit on each other's laps."

"Normally, there's weight concerns, but…" Pressly reconsidered. "With the ultra-low gravity, that's not a problem."

"So once we hijack the car, we drive to the women's lodge and silently take out the guards to retrieve our engineer. The largest risk that can happen is if the alarms go off too early."

"If I can get my hands on some Batarian gear, I can probably take out the security." The Corsair offered. "It's bound to be light if they are dealing with just twenty prisoners."

"We can rob the first guards we knock out when we hijack the hovercar. Anyway, once we gain control of the lodge, we can snatch Gabby- I mean Ms. Daniels and head towards the refinery."

"Whoa there, just one moment." Jacob interrupted again. "Why should we just pick up a single woman? Those girls are living in horrible conditions. We should rescue them all and spare them of further degradation."

The young overseer sighed in an exasperated breath. "Didn't you listen? The hovercar will practically be packed with men. We absolutely cannot bring along a bunch of teary-eyed girls."

"Why do you need to bring your men along in the first place, Harry?"

"Well, if we manage to stay undetected all the way to the transport ship, we need to overpower the Batarian crew."

"The women can perform that function as well as any miner." Jacob retorted. "They're Alliance personnel. Ashley Williams is a marine, and there's a couple more where that came from. I'm sure they're willing to fight as hard if not harder if we give them a chance of escape."

"The fuck?" Was Jacob actually suggesting they all depend on raped and beaten women? Is he out of his mind? Harry just couldn't imagine how a bunch of hormone-filled girls could beat a crew of Batarians. _'Besides, it might not be a good idea for me to be part of a group of mostly women who are all strangers on top of that. Once they find out what I've done to Gabby, they'll all kick me out of the airlock. I need loyal and dependable men under my command. Men who don't ask too many questions.'_

"I'm not going through with my escape if you insist on this stupid change."

"Harry, if you can just switch off your bias for a few seconds, consider whether you want trained Alliance personnel or a bunch of rowdy, undisciplined civilians under our command."

'_That's my command, not 'ours'. And if Gabby's 'training' is anything to go by, then no thank you.'_ Of course, Harry couldn't say that to Jacob's face. So he pulled back a little and cooled down his head.

"I can see your point, but it just won't work. If we want to hijack the hovercar in the first place we need to ambush them with numbers. They've got assault rifles and shotguns ready so I hardly think we can defeat them with just four of us."

As uncomfortable as it was, Jacob had to concede this point.

Then Pressly threw in a wrench in his plans. "You're both forgetting something here. Why do you assume there's only one hovercar? Sure, there's one to take the winning overseer to the women's lodge. However, there's also another, smaller vehicle that carries Warden Chi'lak back and forth every day."

The Corsair's eyes instantly lit up. "That's genius, Pressly! If we can knock out Chi'lak and his escort, we gain more arms and armor while obtaining additional transport capacity, plenty enough to rescue all of the women. Chi'lak also carries the authorization to disable any throat implant in his omni-tool, so it's all the more important that we kill him."

'_Shit, there goes my plan of using a bogus device to mask the fact that it's my magic that's frying the implants.' _While Harry could still offer that solution, the others would likely grow a little suspicious how he got his hands on such a device. Instead, he made another objection. "Do you really think someone like Chi'lak be so easy to take out?"

"Hmm.. you have a point.. still, he only has two guards at most. If we wait around a corner, we can ambush all three of them with improvised weapons. Kinetic barriers don't shield against slow-moving objects. Ours shivs can get through."

A long, drawn out argument ensuesd. Harry found the risks to be unimaginably big, not the least because some Batarians back at the main barracks might question what is taking Chi'lak so long. Despite these risks, Jacob put down his foot and insisted on taking both cars.

"I apologize in advance, but you have to understand one thing, Harry." Jacob started with an odd tone that put the boy on edge. "You've come up with a great plan that none of us could have thought up ourselves. Still, we now know enough of the details to do it ourselves. We can recruit any number of other miners to increase our numbers and leave you behind."

'_That.. motherfucking..asshole.'_ Pure rage burned through Harry's mind like a boiling kettle. _'He.. DARES to pull off a stunt like this!'_

"If you fucking escape without me, I'll be making so much noise that the entire FUCKING asteroid will know what you're doing. And don't even think about beating me up right now. Conrad is ready to run back to the mess hall and call up my boys. I doubt they'll appreciate it when they find out you've dumped them. Isn't that right, Conrad?"

"Y-Yessir." Conrad nodded his head nervously. The increasing tension of the discussion had made him more jumpy.

Both Jacob and Harry were sitting on opposite sides with no solution in sight. Harry's straightforward plan had been questioned and torn apart by Jacob's bleeding heart. Now, their intransigence was threatening to foil their impending escape.

Then, Jacob played another card. "Pressly, what do you think? You're our navigator. We won't be able to get off this rock without your help. Your input is important."

"I…" The old man hesitated and brushed his non-existent hair. "I know our obligation.. if we have the means, we should rescue each and every human from this asteroid. But we have to face reality. We're already juggling a lot of risks. Tackling Chi'lak and rescuing all of the women might be tempting fate."

Harry grinned as he agreed with Pressly's point. _'He's not an idiot after all.'_

But Pressly wouldn't shut his mouth. "That said, I find it abhorrent to leave behind all of those women to a cruel fate. I can never live with myself if I saved my own skin on the backs of their suffering. It is our moral duty as sworn Alliance soldiers to use every means at our disposal to relieve the female captives. I'm with you on this, Jacob."

As Jacob smiled triumphantly, Harry raged with pure and primal fury. His fists were clenched so tight that they shook with the pressure of an earthquake. His escape hadn't even kicked off yet and already he's losing control to these Navy flunkies. _'I'm not going to play second fiddle and allow these losers to order me around.'_

Harry will make them pay. Not now, when he still needed them, but later, when they are successfully stowed away on a ship. In that closed and isolated environment, Harry would have much more latitude with his magic.

'_Just you wait, Jacob Taylor. Gloat all you want. When the time is right, I'll strip you of everything.'_

* * *

**End Notes:** Sometimes I receive strange or annoying PMs asking all kinds of stuff from me. If you are requesting for some sort of favor then at least do it through a review in order to get my review count up. I almost never reply to reviews though so don't get your hopes up. Before you ask any more, here are the most usual questions and my answers to them:

Q: Will you post your fic on yourfanfiction dot com or other sites?

A: I am lazy so I won't. I've already uploaded _Hegemony_ on two alternate sites and that's well enough.

Q: Will you tell me if Harry will ever regains the Deathly Hallows?

A: It is my standard policy never to reveal anything more about my stories than I have already published in the public domain. Half of the fun in writing is to listen to people arguing about what you actually meant and what you intend to write in the future.

Q: Hey, Harry is kind of weak. Will you give him Legilimency/Imperio/Divination/[insert overpowered magic here]?

A: I decide how the story proceeds and no one else. You can make suggestions but 99% of the time I ignore them, especially if you don't provide a substantive and logical argument in your favor. I think Le Roi Des Ombres is the only person I take seriously so far because there's always a couple of good points in his massive reviews.

Q: Hey, you're a pretty good fanfiction author, how about writing a fic about Avatar: The Last Airbender/Firefly/Killzone/[insert random franchise here]?

A: I decide what kind of story I will read and I have no reason to go into any requests. My time is precious and I write what interests me. Besides, there is a high chance that I am not even familiar with the franchise you have put forward. For the record, I have never seen or played Avatar, Firefly or Killzone.

Q: Hey, you're an asshole. Can't you be nicer?

A: Be glad that I'm not reviewing your fic.

Q: Hey, I love your work but you write like shit. You're so sloppy in leaving out numerous spelling, grammar and style errors that makes my eyes bleed. Would you accept me as your beta reader?

A: I'd love to have a beta reader to correct my work if you're crazy enough to offer. If you're actually competent and not an 'average' native English speaker, then I will grant you a lot of free reign to change entire sentences. And while I update frequently, I'm willing to wait a few days for every chapter you beta read because I understand how busy beta readers are. The amount of slack that I'm giving to beta readers should be an indication of how desperate I am to find one who actually want to proofread my work. However, I must repeat that I won't accept any shmoe for the job; only apply if you have beta read before and you specialize in language issues. Until then I'm going to focus all of my energy writing new chapters instead of revising existing ones.


	6. I: A Plan in Motion

October 2, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** A reviewer pointed out that character development is lacking compared to _The Star Empire_. Duh. _Empire_ is 49 chapters long while this is just the sixth. As far as I recall, when _Empire_ was just six chapters long nothing much happened to his character either, though due to the different setting more changes happened in a shorter period. _Hegemony_ starts Harry off in a weaker position so naturally there is less development demanded from Harry. This is pretty obvious.

In all my stories (even the one chapter stories which I never continue), I always take the long view. Individual chapters progress the narrative only gradually. I'm not planning this fic chapter-to-chapter, but story arc to story arc. However, as subjective as this issue is, I do not begrudge readers for feeling disappointed. I take this point to heart but there are limits on what I can do in the framework of what I have planned out for this story. _Hegemony_, despite the similarities, is a different story than _Empire_. While I kept many things the same for convenience, I will be striking a different road with this tale.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_A Plan in Motion_

* * *

The night before the escape attempt, Harry fumbled in his bed. Sleep refused to overtake his worried soul. _'Not surprising, since I'm risking a lot tomorrow.'_

What was Harry's place in the universe?

Compared to most other human slaves, Harry had it pretty good. In the span of a few weeks he has established himself as an unquestionable leader, and enjoyed the privileges of such status. He possessed a cell that is twice as large and four times as furnished from the common lot. As long as he kept his subordinates in line and met his iridium quota his life would have a sense of peace and stability he hadn't enjoyed in a century.

Yet that couldn't last forever. This placid way of life had to end. A few decades from now, people would start to wonder why Harry stayed young when others withered and died. The Batarians would get word, and eventually they'd capture the hidden wizard and study how he worked. This would certainly become his death knell.

Time was not the only factor bothering Harry. The all-consuming nature of the quota dominated the lives of the slaves on this camp. Everything revolved around the quota. Men lived and died according to the whims of chance. If one mine shaft dried up, the workers there received a harsh punishment despite bearing none of the blame. This liquid fate spreads uncertainty and terror amongst those who slaved for the Batarians. Harry had seen how it poisoned the minds of the older slaves, reducing them to beasts in human form.

While Harry never considered himself as a normal human, even he found it slightly abhorrent that savage aliens ground the once-great race of homo sapiens down. What gave them the right to bully his race around? _'The right of conquest, that is.'_ Well if the Batarians could do it, so could the wizard. _'Even if I escape I'll never lead a normal life.'_

That worried Harry the most. Not whether the escape went without a hitch, but what would happen after. _'I'm not going to spend the rest of my immortal life running away in a little ship that will slowly fall apart. Even rats have it better.'_ No. Running away was not in his nature. Above all, Harry craved power, and control over his own destiny. Becoming one of the few fugitive human beings in this harsh and unforgiving universe is hardly an ideal position.

As alien as a wizard was to the common rabble of humanity, Harry's fate was as entwined as theirs. As long as the human race remained a defeated shadow of its former glory, so did Harry remain shackled by these chains. _'I'm not going to accept this without a fight.'_

Harry wanted to fight back. It was what he had always done against everything that ever opposed him. He would find out how this society works, spot the cracks between the foundations and find his own place there. The powers that he had lost when the Hallows were ripped away from him can be regained with other means. _'Magic plays a small role when you consider ships that travel faster than light and cannons that can shatter asteroids.'_

This was the age of the muggle. Technology reigned supreme, and so far Harry had not found any evidence of magic. As the only human wizard, he could earn his riches in ways that others never imitate. Wealth, power, bitches… the opportunities were endless, and in an ocean as large as a galaxy he could run and hide until eternity fades.

But was he content to live as a parasite, leeching off the dredges of society?

'_Definitely not.'_ Not that some of the muggles deserved it, but if he preyed upon the human remnant like a pirate he would only be making it worse for himself. What he really wanted was to carve out a niche for himself that allowed him to take back control over his life. He wanted to become so powerful that the Batarians and other humans wouldn't dare to strike at him and steal his magic.

There was only one course left for him then. _'In order to defeat the Batarians I have to exterminate them all. In order to get other humans off my back I have to eliminate them or bring them into my fold.'_

The latter idea sent a wave of unease in his body. Why would he ever want to work together or lead over a group of lackeys? Leading his work unit in the mines was barely tolerable to him. While he enjoyed the feeling of power and authority his position as an overseer granted him, he felt conflicted when this extended further into other matters, such as operating a ship.

'_I don't have a fraction of the knowledge required to operate a starship. All that astrophysics and advanced math is just beyond me. I can't do anything but rely on the likes of Engineer Gabby and Navigator Pressly to make my way into space.'_

Harry hated this helplessness, this forced reliance on others for their skills. Back when times were simple, he could simply apparate or in worse case walk around the entire globe. No river, mountain or desert hindered him from his goal. Yet now, the distances involved in travel were multiplied a trillion-fold. In one of his talks, Pressly said that to walk from Earth to the nearest foreign star would take an eternity of time. The concepts of the vast distances involved – particularly the term 'light-year' – boggled his mind.

'_Magic has no power over this domain. At my peak I could slaughter thousands, tear down buildings and cheat death itself. Yet even with all of my former strength, a single space vessel can just dump me out in the vacuum of space and I can do nothing about it while I choke or freeze into a lifeless husk.'_

This, single fact continued to bother him well until he was deep in his sleep.

* * *

The day of the escape had finally arrived. Harry woke up from a tense sleep, and tried to keep his nerves under control as he followed his morning routine. In other cells, Jacob, Pressly, Conrad and the rest of Harry's work unit all went about their business nervously. Each feared some kind of fuck-up, such as being ratted out to the Batarians.

'_It is so painfully easy to arrest us all while we're isolated like this. Most of my companions' throat implants are still active as well.'_

Yet nothing eventful happened, and with a terse nod to each other they resolved to avoid catching anyone's attention while they mined the precious iridium during the work shift. Harry had a hard time keeping the tensions down at his own work unit. Conrad had revealed Harry's plan to escape the night before so the men barely had any time to think the ramifications through. Now, with nothing to do but mindless drudge work, their imagination went into overdrive.

"Oh God man.. what if we foul up? What if the ship leaves before we board it? We'd be stranded outside!"

"How does anything think we'll be able to beat the warden? He's got full battle armor for fuck's sake! His kinetic barriers will stop our shivs cold."

Everyone shivered as they thought of all the things that could go wrong. The ghost of Murphy haunted their imagination and ran wild with their trepidation. _'Maybe it was a mistake to keep them out of the dark.'_

"Keep silent, men. The Batarians are probably too lazy but they might be listening in right now."

Now that they were barred from infecting others with their pessimism the frantic mood died down a little. Some were still more anxious than others, but at least they kept their heads intact. Harry needed all the cool professionalism they retained when the escape was in effect. A moment of chaos or panic had the power to unravel everything he worked to achieve.

'_This will be the first and last time the Batarians keep me hostage.'_

His convictions kept his own doubts in check, as it had always done so before. He lived through so many conflicts and triumphed over so many enemies because he shed his inhibitions when they could do the most damage. _'Don't think. Just do.'_

After a long and tortuous shift, the day was finally at an end. Everyone was on edge as they returned to the slave barracks. They entered the changing room as usual and shed their vacuum suits. But when they put them in the locker, they all left the locker a little open.

Everyone left and headed back to the assembly room where Warden Chi'lak announced the week's results.

"Alright you maggots, somehow you incompetent, lazy pink skins managed to crawl up to a decent production output. At least some of you have learned your lessons, perhaps your race isn't entirely hopeless. As for the winner of this week's contest, congratulations Overseer Stuyvesant. Your work group is the least pathetic of the bunch this time. You know the drill."

After that short announcement, the warden floated back to another chamber on the upper floor while the rest filtered towards the mess hall.

Despite condemning his men to work on an empty stomach, Harry couldn't afford to waste the time to let his men eat. The refinery truck would be gone by that time. So as soon as Chi'lak was out of sight, everyone who was in on the escape stormed back to the locker room and quickly changed back into their vacuum suits. While they wouldn't necessarily be exposed to vacuum, if anything went wrong it was better to be safe than sorry. The mining suits also afforded a little more padding and offered better protection against minor damage.

"C'mon, we've got to keep moving." Harry pressed as he zipped up his suit and put on his constricting helmet. He automatically turned off the lights since they attracted too much attention.

"Where do we go from here, boss?"

"This way." Jacob interjected, and boldly led all of the men out to the assembly room. All kinds of mining equipment lay strewn in the corners but they all knew it was useless to pick them up after the mining shift. All the heavy drills and such were guarded by shocks. Instead, Jacob dove into a side corridor where Overseer Stuvesant went through just a few minutes ago with some Batarian guards. "We've got to move quick before Stuyvesant boards the hovercar."

Everyone's breath began to huff a little as they ran down the corridors. Then, a little too suddenly, they bumped into the escort. Jacob bowled over the hooded and blindfolded Stuyvesant and the two Batarian guards who dragged the overseer along were at a loss what to do.

That momentary hesitation was enough to fell them. Harry savagely let out a loose blast of _Expelliarmus _that forced four-eyed alien to lose his grip on his assault rifle. As the guard began to bend down and catch his falling weapon, Harry let his stolen iridium shiv pierce right through the alien's skull. To his astonishment, Batarian blood is quite different from human blood. Brownish-green liquid squirted out of the surprised guard's ridged and ugly skull.

The second guard put up more of a fight, cracking the butt of his rifle against one of Harry's brawlers. The rifle butt cracked right through the helmet but did no further damage. Others began to grapple and wrestle the outnumbered guard to the ground, whereupon someone with a shank finally put the Batarian out of his misery.

"W-What's happening?!" Stuyvesant yelled, having heard all the screams and death cries.

"Something that doesn't concern you, overseer." Harry replied, and ruthlessly slit his throat with his blood-soaked shiv.

"Harry! What have you done!" Jacob yelled with wide-open eyes. "You've just murdered him!"

"We can't afford to keep him alive. He'd rat us out to the Batarians quicker than a heartbeat."

"There are other solutions besides killing him. We could have tied him up."

Harry growled and swatted Jacob away. "This is not time for an argument. We have to move before Chi'lak leaves."

"Hold on a moment, Harry." He said, picking up one of the rifles. By agreement, Pressly took the other rifle. "There, we're ready. Harry, leave two of your men behind to strip these bodies of their armor. They'll fit humans and they might come in handy later."

It was a good suggestion and Harry wasn't averse to following it up despite the fact it came from Jacob. The young overseer ordered the man with the cracked helmet as well as another brawler he remembered as Ventura to stay behind and steal the combat armor. Later on they were ordered to find the hovercar that was supposed to be used to bring passengers to the women's lodge and secure it if there were no further guards.

"Let's go."

Beyond this route, all of the escapees were walking on uncharted territory. A few security doors stood in their way but Jacob snatched one of the guard's omni-tools earlier and used the holographic device's security authorization to open the doors. The first time Jacob activated the orange glowing hologram, Harry almost jumped at the sight of magic. He quickly realized a moment later that it was just an electronic device and calmed himself down.

"Looks like the alarms aren't raised yet. We still have the element of surprise. As long as we prevent the other guards from using their omni-tools we should be able to keep it that way."

Easier said than done, of course. When they finally climbed the stairs, exited out the airlock and reached some sort of landing platform on the roof, Warden Chi'lak and two separate guards were already making their way towards a heavy and armored vehicle that looked more like an APC than a taxi. Another driver waited behind the steering wheels.

"Shit. What do we do?" Harry whispered to Jacob, who seemed to be the only one who had all the answers in these kinds of situations. "If we run at them like madman they'll have plenty of seconds to trigger the alarm."

The Corsair didn't answer immediately, and instead turned to Pressly. "How's your omni-tool coming along?"

"I found an outdated Overload function. It won't dent their shields that much but I can reconfigure it to a wide-area communication blackout."

"Do what you can and hit the Batarians with it as soon as they are about to board the car. We don't want the driver to trigger the alarm as well."

While moderately adept at computer systems, Pressly wasn't an engineer, and it showed in his expression as he fiddled with the stolen omni-tool. The frustrated navigator cursed under his breath. "Damn Batarians, half of this omni-tool's memory is filled with images of naked Batarian women."

This caused several slaves to stifle their laughter. Harry hushed them up quickly before they could expose their location.

"Time's running out." Jacob tersely warned, and switched off the safety of his assault rifle.

After a few more button presses, Pressly grinned in relief. "I've patched the program! Give me some space!"

The navigator barged through the hiding slaves and took in the position of the waiting hovercar and the boarding Batarians. With one more press of a button, a blue, electric wave exploded within their midst, startling the Batarians while knocking out their communication module.

"CHARGE!" Harry broadcasted, and pushed his men to their feet and run right at the confused aliens. After a second-and-a-half of milling about they got the message and started to traverse the open landing pad with their improvised weapons over their head.

Flashes of projectiles travelled forward, all focusing on the driver who tried to pull his hovercar away. While Pressly's fire went all over the place, Jacob managed to steady his bursts and pierced the window. His remaining bullets tore through the driver's helmetless head with vicious ease.

Warden Chi'lak and the other guards meanwhile recovered enough to take stock of the situation. Spotting the charging mob of slaves, their training immediately took over. They retreated behind the car to use it as cover and crouched to steady their aim.

Then, they fired into the crowd.

Harry had anticipated something like this would happen. He already cast a bunch of _Expelliarmus_ at the Batarians but the distance was too great for his wandless spells to maintain cohesion. Now that his opponents hid behind cover, the wizard needed to get close in order to accomplish anything meaningful. He instead cast an invisible and wobbly _Protego_ with an outstretched palm and hoped none of the bullets came at his direction.

The strafing fire immediately punctured through some of his men's vacuum suits. If the wounds themselves weren't fatal, the loss of air immediately doomed their lives. Four were cut down instantly. Two more fell a few moments after before the Batarians' rifles needed time to cool down.

The mob reached the car by then and began to surround and throw themselves at the Batarians. The aliens were outnumbered, but they didn't go down without a fight. Warden Chi'lak himself let a couple of humans grapple him before activating something on his omni-tool that caused his armor to sprout wickedly sharp spikes that stabbed through his attackers.

'_Damnit, Jacob won't make it here in time!'_

Having already lost eight men, Harry needed to end this quickly before his muscle dwindled down to nothing. The warden spotted Harry and raised his cannon-like pistol towards him with uncanny speed.

'_Shit!'_ Harry jumped at the Batarian with his knife and cast another _Expelliarmus_ that didn't quite force his opponent to lose his pistol. Chi'lak somehow held on to his weapon with a raised arm, and drew it back down to fire on the crowd.

"Hah!" Conrad shouted as he snuck behind and slammed a chunk of iridium ore against the warden's helmet.

The helmet absorbed the blow but threw Chi'lak's balance off. This gave Harry enough time to grip the warden's neck and pierce his suit with his shiv. _'Jacob is right. The neck area is the most vulnerable portion of their armor.'_

The warden dropped, both from having his neck stabbed and his air supply leaking away. As the rest of the men beat up and pulled the guards' helmets off their heads, Chi'lak collapsed and entered the local comm channel.

"You won't.. get away.. with this.. filth…"

The warden died ignominiously then. _'I expected more from him to be honest.' _Harry thought, but the loss of so many of his men was bad enough. They were beyond saving of course and no one attempted to revive them. Still, the losses stung many of his other men.

"Pull yourselves through. Are you sissies or are you men?" Harry growled as he filched Chi'lak's pistol. For a handgun, it was a hefty weapon. He turned the pistol to its side and deciphered the Batarian letters. "Judgement – Batarian State Arms."

By the time most of his men recovered, Jacob and Pressly dragged away the dead driver and entered the vehicle. Pressly took the wheels while Jacob rode shotgun.

"Hurry up and get in the car." The grumpy navigator ordered the mob. "Now that the warden's dead the alarm can go off at any minute. We have to rescue the women at the very least by the time we are discovered."

Even with all of the losses, it was a tight fit, but no one was forced to stand or sit on someone else's lap. Two more of Harry's thugs had claimed the Terminator rifles from the dead guards and were trying to fit the armor pieces onto their bodies. In a crowded car, that proved to be a difficult and frustrating experience.

Pressly got his vehicle underway, and sedately circled the barracks until they spotted the second car controlled by the miners Harry left behind. They obediently followed the warden's car once they confirmed everything continued according to plan.

As both cars flew towards the isolated women's lodge, Harry tried to figure out the pistol. _'Where's the ammo clip?'_

Jacob looked back from his front seat and frowned at the display. "Do you have any training with firearms?"

"No."

"Then you should hand it over to someone else."

"No thank you." Harry replied snarkily. With his magic in a wonky state he didn't want to let go of another weapon. "Just tell me how to operate this damn thing."

Despite Jacob's displeasure, they didn't have the time for another argument. He reached out and pointed out a few functions with his finger. "That's the safety. Switch it on immediately, like that. You should never wave it around with the safety off. That's the trigger. The pistol's a semi-automatic, so one pull will only fire one micro-slug. Be sure to hold it with both your hands because the recoil is quite heavy for that line of gun."

"And what about ammo?"

The Corsair sighed. "It's a Mass Effect weapon. It shaves off miniscule slugs off a block of metal. You will have to fire thousands of shots before it runs out of ammunition. The one thing you do need to take care of is heat build-up. All of that waste energy gets turned into thermal energy and needs to be siphoned off. There's a small vent to the side, over there, which will blow out a lot of heat when the Judgement is red-hot. Try to keep your fire rate down and pick your targets. You don't want it to overheat and fail when you need it the most."

* * *

After that, the lesson came at an end when Pressly landed the hovercar to the landing pad next to the modest lodge. It was really nothing more than a collection of prefabricated blocks stacked on top of each other. _'Typical Batarian stinginess.'_

There were four guards inside the compound. Two patrolled the corridors while two enjoyed their breaks in a lounge. All four of them were eliminated quickly enough through Jacob's stealthy action and massed gun fire when the remainder tried to sound the alarm. The men soon fought for possession for the remaining armor suits. Conrad managed to get one, but Jacob and Pressly soon claimed two of them for themselves, leaving the remaining suit for another grunt.

All of the armored men wielded assault rifles, while Jacob kept the omni-tools safe. "No offence, but they'd be wasted on your men. As soon as we free the women they can make use of it much better than us."

Harry didn't mind missing one himself as it would take too long to figure out the letters and what it could do. His magic might also interfere with the delicate electronics.

The navigator tweaked the security systems in the control room and unlocked the cells after using Chi'lak's authorization code. "It's done. We better gather them up quickly before they panic."

As Harry's men surged forward, Jacob blocked the doorway and halted them in their tracks. "I think it's better for all of you to return to one of the hovercars. We need to break the news to them gently and I don't think seeing you men will calm them down."

There was some hefty argument from the greedy men but Harry ordered them away. He didn't want any chaos to erupt due to an avoidable error. He did ask one thing from Jacob. "Let me talk to Gabriella Daniels personally. I was the one who made contact with her and she should know me."

The marine nodded without a thought, handed over an omni-tool and went to work gathering all of the remaining women before they hatched some mischief. Harry looked at the map and located Gabrielle's cell easily. He walked past the confused gaggle of Alliance women and barged into Gabby's simple cell.

The redhead looked the same as before, clad in her scruffy utilitarian outfit. The moment Harry entered she looked up in hope, which quickly dashed as she recognized her tormentor. "H-Harry."

"That's Master to you." The boy gently reminded her as he came close to hug her body. Gabby stiffened into a stick. "No need to be afraid anymore. We're busting you all out."

The girl felt conflicted. Tears started to well up in her eyes as Harry nakedly groped her tight ass. "I.. I didn't think you'd actually do it.. and so soon.."

"Shh.. there there.. You'll be free from the Batarian soon. You can go back into the fight."

Harry whispered several such nonsense to her. He knew very well that his presence scared her, but this wasn't time to indulge in his dick. He needed Gabby to be strong and focused. Playing nice would prevent her from breaking down and letting other people onto his game.

"Come. We have a hovercar waiting for us."

After offering his hand, Harry led the half-broken girl out of her cell and guided her to a storage room where all the women were donning vacuum suits. "Make sure you're suited up well, Gabby. I wouldn't want to lose you too soon."

His ambiguous words sent a chill through her spine and consumed her entire mind as she silently joined her sisters. As the door closed behind her, Jacob faced him with measured eyes.

"I've distributed the omni-tools to them. I've reserved one for your engineer as she should have the best training with them. Pressly also relinquished his rifle to a Gunnery Chief, Ashley Williams."

"Ashley? That woman who got raped a few weeks ago? Are you sure that's.. wise?"

"Marines are made of sterner stuff, son. If anything, she's gunning for the Batarians. She'll be a valuable asset even without armor."

After a few minutes, the women were done and exited the locker room. Jacob led the procession through the airlock and out on the landing pad. "Alright, girls, you can take the guest car, while the boys will occupy the men's car."

"Hold on Gabby." Harry grasped her arm tightly, causing her to wince. "You're staying with me, honey."

As Harry guided the singled out girl back to the men's car, a few of the men started to make noises but Harry stifled them quickly. Jacob on the other hand didn't look pleased, to which Harry shrugged.

"The other car is overcrowded. With all the losses we absorbed we've got plenty of space here." Harry explained as he guided Gabby to take a seat next to him. As long as he stayed near her, the others didn't dare to do anything to her. Jacob hesitantly accepted the explanation and ordered the cars to lift.

"Alright, the next phase of the plan is to hijack or board the refinery truck. Harry, you're the only one who's seen the vehicle. What's your suggestion?"

"Well, I originally planned to sneak onboard the truck before it left the refinery, but with almost 40 people we'd never be able to do it without attracting a lot of attention."

"Then we'll have to hijack the truck while it is on route." Jacob concluded. "Is it automated?"

"It's got a driver and a guard riding up front."

"Then we need to neutralize them both and get the vehicle under control, and we have to do it without crashing the truck and triggering an alarm."

"We'll use Pressly's Overload to disable their comm units and-"

"Sir?" Gabby interrupted softly. "I can do a lot more than that. If you let me in close I can hack their vehicle and trigger an override."

"That's.. incredibly helpful, Engineer Daniels. Set up your omni-tool immediately. I want to you to be ready by the time we catch up to them."

She smiled softly, but kept her head down. Gabby startled a little as Harry lightly petted her thigh.

"Good girl. You're showing some initiative. If you keep up the good work I might give you a treat."

For a moment, Gabby wanted to scream, to sob, to yell obscenities at Harry. What he did to her body was.. was unforgivable. Yet there is more at stake here, and.. she feared Harry too much to defy him. Just the sound of his smooth, but cruel voice locked her up and left her at his mercy. The logical engineer couldn't explain why she became so weak. What was it about Harry that so expertly strung her along? Just one night of horrendous passion had reduced her to his lapdog.

'_Why can't this all just end?' _She silently despaired as Harry's fingers left her thigh and instead stroked her back like she was a lounging cat. _'Why does it feel so good?'_

The two cars stayed at the lodge and stayed low. They waited for twenty terse minutes before the hovertruck left the refinery with another batch of pure iridium.

"Now's our time to move."

The cars lifted up simultaneously and ascended high from the asteroid's surface until they overtook the truck. "Is your program ready, Daniels?"

She nodded modestly. "I've got a lock on the vehicle. Say the word and it will make an emergency landing. It will shut down the comm system as well so the truck won't transmit an automatic distress signal."

"I'm very grateful for your help." Jacob spoke sincerely. "Let us get into position first."

As both cars abruptly descended towards the surface, Jacob gave the order and Gabby quickly initiated her hacking program. It helped that the truck was an old and outdated model that the commanders of the base never bothered to upgrade.

"Deactivating comm systems now! Disabling manual controls now!"

"Bring us in close Pressly!"

On both sides of the truck, the two hovercars dove until the passenger seats aligned with the side windows. The two Batarian occupants were still too busy fumbling with their locked-out controls that they failed to nice when Jacob and Ashley fired a precise burst of slugs through their skulls.

"The Batarians are down! Activate the auto pilot!"

"Done, sir!"

The truck obeyed its modified directives and landed gently on the surface of the asteroid. Harry couldn't believe how easy it was to hijack the truck. _'Then again, the space port will be a tough nut to crack.'_ As everyone boarded out of the cars, Harry considered the truck. "If we empty one of the containers we can stuff everyone inside."

"I'm not too sure about that." The Corsair frowned as he considered the same situation. "Their exits are too narrow. If we want to surprise the cargo handlers, it's best we widen our opening as best we can. We should empty at least another container so we can have our troops out twice as fast."

"Sure, whatever you say." Harry shrugged. The explanation made sense but he found it unnecessary. While Jacob ordered the men and women to start opening the containers, Harry already cast his mind at least two steps ahead. _'It looks like this escape plan may actually succeed. I need to be ready to take control over the vessel and lock out the Alliance egos who want to take away all my hard work.'_

Luckily, a few talks with Conrad and his men had given Harry a possible angle to pursue. Also, despite being outnumbered by Alliance personnel, most of them were traumatized women. A lot of the looted arms and armor were also in the hands of his men. If necessary, he could execute Jacob and Pressly while subduing the women. Still, that might be a little too drastic. _'I also need Gabby to stay cooperative if I want her to keep the engines running.'_

Harry needed to go about this situation carefully, and solve the problem in a political manner. It was a good thing that the wizard had already observed many such fractured situations before in his previous enemies. Everyone might pretend to be allies today, but when the cards were out, the game was up.

'_The ship and her precious cargo will be all mine at the end of this day.'_

* * *

**End Notes:** Hmmm I probably went a little overboard with my previous author's notes. I have a tendency of using these spaces to preach to my audience. Personally, I never read someone else's notes because I'm so obsessed with the story that I just click 'next chapter' to get right back into the flow.


	7. I: The Ascending Ship

October 4, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** No comment.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_The Ascending Ship_

* * *

The interior of the container was dark and nauseatingly cramped. Everyone turned on their helmet lights in order to stave off the oppressive darkness. Harry sat hunched down along with much of the rest as they waited for their gambit to work.

By agreement, Jacob and Pressly both sat at the front of the truck, their bodies fully encased in their stolen armor. With their helmets on, no guard could mistake them from humans, allowing them to pass checkpoints if the space port guards weren't too thorough.

There were two points where their ploy was vulnerable. First, if a guard came up to the two disguised Alliance soldiers, the typical warble that resulted from translation would instantly identify the escapees as non-Batarian. Hopefully communications would remain through electronic channels where interference masked the artificial element.

The second point was that at some stage, a cargo scanner would sweep the entire contents of the container. This was by far the most critical event. Harry had no illusions that the scanner could pick up the absence of iridium and the abundance of organic material. Their only hopes lay ironically on Gabby's shoulders.

She was a marvel to behold. This young, spunky woman was one of the best graduates of the Alliance training program for engineers. Due to her intellectual capabilities Gabriella was invited into another training program where she learned how to operate Batarian systems and software, with a focus on starships. The difficulty involved in learning a system based off a foreign language and set of principles was high, but necessary. Most surviving human fleets depended on captured Batarian ships, which utilized Mass Effect principles and were thus significantly better than the rust buckets the Alliance had built.

Yet for all her skill and capability, no one was sure she could hack the scanning device. Until the hovertruck arrived at the space port and connected to the local network, Gabby had nothing to do for now. She fidgeted in her place as she configured the former warden's personal omni-tool more to her liking.

Then Harry stroked her back. His hand gently followed the creases of her vacuum suit, exerting only the slightest amount of pleasure.

It might as well come as a punch to Gabby as unbidden memories surfaced back in front of her eyes. _'No.. please no…'_

She tried her best to ignore Harry's antics. While Gabby felt too bothered to work properly in the first few minutes, slowly she relaxed when Harry did not try to hurt her or touch her more intimate parts. _'What does he want?'_

A few times, she raised her head and tried to glimpse Harry's head. The helmet lights illuminate his emotionless face brilliantly, but she discerned little from his eyes. While she felt his eyes stray over her body the way most men did, his thoughts swayed elsewhere.

In truth, Harry was merely impatient. All this waiting and silence grated upon him. While he understood the delicacy of entering the space port without suspicion, he hoped the period of uncertainty would end soon. Petting Gabby as if she was a lazy cat calmed some of his nerves. Fantasizing about all the things he might do to her later on when all of this was behind them is another method to relax.

While Gabrielle was not the most gorgeous woman compared to a handful of other rescued babes, she was by far the most strategic one to have under his thumb. The presence of so many other women with firm loyalties to the Alliance was an unwelcome complication that risked his eventual success in usurping control of the Batarian transport. So far, while Harry had a good number of armed and armored men under his command, they were no professional marines. Experienced soldiers such as Jacob Taylor and Ashley Williams appear quite able to waltz over the rabble that constituted his men.

'_This is bad. The composition will need to be evened out by the time we gain control over the ship.'_

If it was up to Harry, he'd soon off the Alliance troops when he had no further need of them. _'Yet I still need Gabby and Pressly to make the ship go where I want it to go.'_ This was a frustrating balancing act for him. He needed to maintain overall command while keeping essential personnel on his side. He couldn't have stated a more impossible goal.

"We're at the space port." Gabby whispered, and her omni-tool lighted up with new displays. "I have access to the local network. Chi'lak's clearance gets me far, but I will still have locate and hack the cargo scanner systems."

"Do your best, Engineer Daniels. We're all counting on you." Ashley said as she checked over her stolen rifle.

The truck made an audible clank as it landed somewhere solid. "The truck has landed at the security checkpoint. We'll be scanned at any minute!"

"I need more time!" Gabby whispered frantically as she typed rapidly on the glowing orange keyboard emitting from her wrist.

Harry snarled, and activated a comm channel. "Jacob, try to delay the cargo scans if you can! We need more time!"

A tense couple of minutes passed in silence as Pressly and Jacob handled the situation outside. Sweat dripped from Harry's brow as his breath grew faster and faster. Due to the thick material of the containers and the lack of air at the exterior, no one heard any noise. If the two Alliance soldiers somehow managed to screw up, the occupants inside the two containers wouldn't know anything until it was far too late.

".. I've got it! I fooled the cargo sensors into repeating previous week's patterns."

"Jacob," Harry whispered in his comm channel. "Let them scan the containers quickly before the hack is detected."

The Corsair declined to sound back, presumably to keep his cover.

Nothing happened for a time.

Then, the truck began to move forward. "Yes!"

As some of the men and women cheered, Harry and a few other quick-witted people quickly shushed silent. They couldn't risk discovery due to a banal error such as making too much noise. Everyone's nerves grew twice as much as the moment of truth came close.

Eventually, the truck landed again. Soon, something clutched the walls and lifted the container upwards, causing some to stumble. _'It's happening.' _The containers were lifted off the truck and placed inside the transport ship. While this was not unexpected, the unsteady motion and the crane's rough treatment jangled everyone about. Finally, with an unceremonious slam, the container was put down.

Moments later, other containers were loaded in the transport. Their impacts transmitted all the way back to Harry and he used it to silently count how far the loading proceeded.

_Clunk._

"That's the last container." The wizard reminded everyone. "If we're lucky, the transport won't suspect anything and begin to lift off soon."

But it wasn't meant to be. Minutes passed, then an hour. All this mindless waiting resulted in more than a few outbursts, as everyone was itching to kill Batarians. Harry eventually ran out of patience as well as he grew bored of teasing Gabby.

He broke radio silence and contacted Jacob. "What the hell is going on outside?!"

A response didn't arrive immediately. Minutes trickled passed, and Harry began to doubt the plan. _'Is Jacob compromised? Are the Batarians calling up all their reserves right now?'_

Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. The wait became more and more excruciating. Gabby meanwhile spent all her efforts hacking into the space port's security system and scan whatever was happening outside, to no avail. "I can't crack this code. The access terminals are on a secondary, non-wireless network. Whoever is in charge of security here is really paranoid."

That comment caused only more distress. What if everyone's worst fears came true? Harry clenched his pistol tightly, wishing he had a score of aliens in front of him. Anything was better than this mindless wait.

Then, shortly after, a comm channel opened. Jacob's voice came through. "Sorry for the wait. We had to sneak aboard without raising suspicion. The bad news is that the ship isn't disembarking for another 30 hours. We'll have to improvise and hijack the ship while she's still aground. Are you ready?"

"Go." Harry spoke, and the front most men unlocked the container and quietly opened the double doors. Everyone poured out into the spacious cargo bay. Those with rifles aimed their weapons along the corridors the random stacking of containers formed.

"It's a fucking maze around here." Ashley whispered with a frustrated tone. "But it doesn't look like there's a lot of four eyes around."

Harry nodded and regarded the confusing layout with distaste. "As long as we stay here we're exposed. We'll leave half of the unarmed men behind and move into the ship's proper with the rest."

After a short discussion on who to leave behind, the rest surged forward. Half a dozen of Harry's former miners were now taking the lead, relying on their commandeered armor to absorb the initial hits. Not all of them were armed, however. Some of the women like Ashley insisted they be handed with a few assault rifles. This uneven mix of humans slowly navigated forwards until they came across some stairs that presumably led to the crew decks.

"Remember, we have to do this quick and quietly. Don't let them sound the alarm."

It went wrong as soon as they met the first pair of crewmen. The two Batarians walked past the stairway, deeply involved in a technical discussion when one of Harry's armed men decides to barge into the corridor and spray his rifle in the aliens' general direction.

"DIE BATARIANS DIE!"

The gunfire and the initial wounds caused a mighty ruckus in the ship.

"Shit!" Harry yelled and surged forward to restrain the out-of-control miner. "Calm down you fucker!"

The rifle eventually overheated after spilling forth a score of microslugs. Both Batarians had collapsed and sported numerous wounds, but none were instantly fatal. The younger-looking crewman stared at the oncoming humans with contempt, and pressed a button on his omni-tool.

A screeching alarm instantly sounded out, ruining Harry's carefully laid plans. "You stupid idiot!" He yelled and slammed the butt of his pistol against the stupid grunt's head. He snatched the rifle away and handed it to one of the hopeful looking women. "I hope you put it to better use than this fucktard."

The brunette didn't spare a glance and moved to reinforce her sisters. The gaggle of confused men and women slowly formed into groups. "Spread out and eliminate the Batarians."

No more words needed to be said. Everyone fanned out. Harry himself escorted Gabby to the rear of the ship where the engines would be. Conrad followed him around like a puppy and Ventura provided armored support.

"How many engineers does a transport like this usually have?"

"I'm not sure." Gabby responded, thinking hard as she tinkered with her omni-tool. "The standard amount is two, but any number of crewmen may have converged to the engine room. It's one of the most critical ship sections to defend in the event of boarding."

"Great."

They swiftly encountered the locked hatch that led into the engine room. A red holographic rectangle-circle thingie made it abundantly clear that no one was allowed entry. "Some Batarians have barricaded themselves inside."

"Can you hack it, Gabby?"

She nodded. "Hatches are simpler to hack. I'll just need to expose this panel and…"

She trailed off and manipulated a lot of code. The way she directed her omni-tool and changed a lot of things on the screen completely befuddled a techno-rube like Harry. _'It's just like magic.'_

"Got it." And the doors slid apart with ruthless efficiency, exposing all of them to the defenders inside.

"Move move move!" Harry snapped as he recovered first. He held his pistol in a two-handed grip like Jacob instructed and stormed into the spacious and dark chamber. The black-painted walls and minimal lighting made it difficult for him to recognize hostiles, but he soon spotted movement and fired a handful of wild shots in their direction.

_Pfuw! Pfuw! Pfuw!_

His pistol's discharge didn't sound anything like the assault rifles or the guns from his era, but the boy paid little attention to it. The handgun's hefty kick strained his shoulders and forced his weapon upwards. None of his projectiles even came close to hitting the enemy Batarian, though it didn't need to. The engineer had second thoughts and went back into cover.

"Hostile at three-o-clock! Laying down suppressive fire!" Ashley yelled as she laid a precise burst of slugs at Harry's left. A strange noise sounded out in response and flashes of light emanated from that direction. "Shit! He's got shields!"

"That's not the only thing I've got!" The Batarian yelled back, and threw an object in their direction.

"Grenade! Take cover!"

Harry's battle instincts already forced him to dive away. Conrad let out an unmanly cry and ran back out of the engine room. As Ashley hid behind some thick piping, Ventura gaped around like a clueless fish. He looked dumbly at the tumbling grenade until a light bulb finally flashed above his head. "Oh."

The grenade exploded in a fury of deathly shrapnel that embedded into the bulkhead and fixtures. Ventura was hit point blank by the concussive blast and his kinetic barriers were unable to stay erect against so much force. His shields shorted out, letting numerous pieces of shrapnel pierce through his armor plating. A ragged scream erupted from his throat as he collapsed.

"Merlin, is everyone as stupid as fuck? Conrad, grab Ventura's rifle and help us out!"

"Y-Yes!"

The fight devolved into a short back and forth. Both sides were firmly entrenched into cover and no one dared to pop out of cover long enough to get hit by a lucky bullet. It didn't help that none of the surviving humans wore armor and had shields. An advantage one of the Batarians certainly enjoyed as he waited out of cover for someone to expose himself.

The standoff couldn't continue. Something had to give.

It came a handful of exchanges later when the armored Batarian readied another grenade. Harry had peeked out long enough to see the alien prepare the grenade. _'This is my chance!'_

The wizard waited tersely as the Batarian lobbed the cylindrical object in their direction. As Ashley yelled everyone to take cover, Harry instead extended his free hand and incanted, _'Reducto!'_

A thrash of kinetic energy erupted from his arm and reverberated throughout the entire chamber. The dispersed shockwave easily stopped the grenade's momentum and carried it back in the direction it was thrown. The Batarian made a surprise gargle before the grenade exploded a few meters away from his, showering him with shrapnel.

"What happened!?" Ashley asked as the expected explosion happened far away from her location. "Hey, where are you going kid?"

Harry wasn't convinced the grenade killed the soldier, and hauled out of cover to sprint forwards. "Take care of the other crewman!"

The remaining surviving Batarian took a few potshots at Harry with some rapid-fire pistol but Ashley quickly forced his head back down. This gave Harry enough time to cover the distance and dive behind the cove where the guard made his refuge.

The wounded Batarian made an excruciating cry as he tried to aim his remaining rifle in Harry's direction.

"Oh no you won't!" He growled and kicked the rifle out of the alien's grip. Harry didn't waste any more time and fired three solid slugs in the center of the Batarian's head. The first two shots were stopped by the soldier's regenerating shields, but his last hit drilled right through the nose and into the brain.

The Batarian choked in his own blood as his nerve center shut down. Harry smirked victoriously and took the assault rifle off the dead alien's hand.

"Engine room is secure!"

Gabby entered the room with a frayed face. All of the gunfire and explosions had dazzled her mind.

"Snap out of it Gabby!" Harry barked, and his sharp tone startled the woman out of her daze. She threw a fearful look at him and whimpered softly. "We've got a ship to hijack. Get to work, engineer."

"Y-Yes sir!"

As Gabby approach the main console connected to a humming, metal-encased globe, Ashley inspected the bodies briefly before closing the two hatches that led into the chamber. She approached Harry with curious eyes. "You've got two firearms. Why don't you hand Engineer Daniels your pistol."

Harry suppressed his scowl. _'Who does this bitch think she is?'_ Outwardly, he maintained a forced smile. "Gabby is not the soldierly type, and it's better to let her focus on the computer."

"Hand her the pistol." The gunnery chief insisted a little more forcefully.

'_I can't have everything blow up in my face at this moment, but neither do I want Gabby to be armed.'_ Harry had a difficult decision to make. If he made any wrong move, his coup would be exposed too early and the Alliance dogs might overwhelm him and his men.

In the end, Harry had no choice but to comply. He slowly walked forwards until he stopped just behind the redhead. Gabby pretended not to notice his approach and kept her attention purely focused on the screen.

'_How amusing.'_ Harry thought as he found Gabby's efforts childish. He dropped the pistol on a nearby console. "You should keep some protection on hand. I might not always be around to scare away the bad guys."

".. Thank you.. sir."

"Not a problem, Gabby." Then, after confirming Ashley is busy with something else, Harry leaned into his victim's ear and whispered, "Just remember who you answer to, _slave_."

Gabby froze, her entire body as still as a statue. Harry hovered close to her body for a few seconds, his very breath was fondling her ears and hair. Then, slowly, the boy drew back, giving her some much needed personal space. She furiously pushed back her primal terror and immersed herself in the computer system of the alien starship.

After a moment of checking things out, Ashley nodded to herself and activated the comm. "This is Chief Williams reporting in. The engine room is secure. We suffered only one casualty."

Harry tuned into the channel and was bombarded with a cacophony of noise. "This is Jacob! The space port's security forces are pouring into the hangar and storming the entry hatch! I need some backup, pronto!"

"How's the bridge?"

Someone else sounded in, an unfamiliar female with a distinct posh accent that Harry found quite welcoming. _'So the yanks haven't overrun humanity with their burger culture.'_

"Specialist Traynor, reporting in! The captain and his officers put up a heavy fight! We've suffered numerous casualties especially amongst the unarmed men. We're just securing the bridge controls but we need several minutes to adjust, over."

After the short status update, Ashley cut the feed and turned to Harry. "You heard it, kiddo. Jacob needs backup and we're going to reinforce him."

'_You stupid bitch. Now I can't stay with Gabby.'_ He knew it was useless to argue against the logic, so he let it go. Before he left, he turned to Conrad, who clutched his borrowed rifle with uncertain hands. "Stay here and guard the good engineer. Make sure _nothing_ happens to her."

He nodded dumbly and was glad to stay behind as Ashley and Harry left the engine room and jogged back to the entry hatch. The sound of heavy gunfire and alien curses soon assaulted their ears, and as they entered the heavily scarred airlock, the projectiles were flying all over the place.

"Good that you've come!" Jacob yelled back as he hung behind a heavy crate. He gestured towards the numerous bodies of men and women who hours earlier had staked their lives on this escape. "They arrived faster than we expected and almost made it into the ship."

Harry peeked out and sprayed a wide splash of bullets that scared a few Batarians back into cover.

"There's a dozen of them!" Ashley muttered with amazement as she wielded her rifle with a lot more skill. "How have you been able to keep them off by yourself?"

The black man grunted as he held down the trigger until it overheated. As a wounded Batarian screamed in pain, he threw down the piping hot weapon and picked up another rifle by his side. He then let out another full burst with that fresh weapon.

"I see now. Clever." Ashley praised the inventive Corsair admiringly. She then had to duck as a shotgun blast traveled over the position previously occupied by her head. "Damnit, they're massing shock troops. I think they're preparing for an all-out assault!"

Jacob nodded as he continued his rifle roulette. "They're saving up their grenades. Any moment now they'll throw in half-a-dozen of them before storming in while we're still dealing with the concussion."

Everyone gritted their teeth. With just the three of them they'll never hold the entryway. Only Jacob possessed shields and armor and therefore a chance to survive the grenade barrage. Seeing very little hope, Harry switched on his comm channel.

"Bridge, do you have the ship under control or not? We need to lift up right now or we'll be swarmed by Batarians!"

"Just a minute more." Traynor's cultured voice sounded back. "Pressly's almost unlocked the lockdown imposed by the alarms. I've sent additional troops to the airlock. They should be arriving soon."

Sure enough, a gaggle of men and women arrived to relieve some of the pressure. With more fire going out of the ship they pushed some of the bolder Batarians back.

"Grenades!"

'_Shit.'_ Harry thought, and forced himself to perform a miracle yet again as he extended his palm for another shockwave. He had no time to aim precisely, and let the wide wave of pressure bounce off the walls of airlock. Luckily, as everyone dove for cover, none of them noticed the pressure wave.

A part of the pressure front escaped the ship and met the trajectory of the grenades. All three of the explosive payloads bounced back as if they met a wall, and landed behind the Batarian lines. An instant later they exploded, shredding the closer soldiers while draining the shields of those further away.

"Wh..What happened?" Jacob asked with obvious puzzlement, but gathered enough of his wits to take advantage of the distraction and fire into the guards' ranks.

"They must have botched their throws and hit the hull." Ashley guessed as she and the others quickly contributed to the exchange.

After another minute of battle, the airlock suddenly snapped shut, and the entire ship shuddered.

"The bridge crew did it! We're taking off!"

Everyone sighed in relief. _'Is it over now?'_

"We're not out of the woods yet." The tough female chief remarked and snapped everyone back in line. "Patrol the ship and secure all of the compartments we missed. There might be one or two Batarians left."

As Ashley sorted out the gaggle of men and women, Jacob approached Harry and patted his hands against his shoulder. "Ashley's right. Anything can happen. We should head to the bridge and get an update on the situation."

Both men left the airlock and marched all the way forwards to the bridge. The sight that met them was extraordinarily gruesome. Most of the unarmored men and women had suffered grievous and fatal injuries. Some of the remaining grim-faced survivors were already working to dragging the bodies away.

"Ashley, make sure you make a headcount of the survivors." Jacob transmitted to her then took stock of the bridge itself.

Pressly was hard at work at the pilot's seat thrusting the ship away from the dangerous space port. Another dark-haired woman, Traynor, sat at the sensor console. As soon as the newcomers arrived she saluted at them despite the confusion regarding their exact ranks.

"Sirs, we have a problem. Our ship lost contact with two Batarian frigates on the far side of the system. Presumably, they jumped into FTL and are on their way to Delta-349 to resolve the situation. We have about five minutes left before they jump out of FTL."

"FTL?" Harry asked cluelessly.

The woman looked at him oddly, as if he didn't belong on the bridge. Harry ignored her silent suggestion. "Faster-Than-Light travel. It is one of the more practical means of traveling the stars. Engaging in FTL will put us out of phase with the rest of the universe and allow us to hide from the Batarians. This transport ought to be able to travel 12 light years a day."

Harry grunted a bit uselessly. "So what's taking so long?"

"We don't have full control over the ship, that's the problem." Pressly explained as he tried to hack the ship's controls. "The FTL drive is still locked down but with Engineer Daniel's efforts we should be able to get it running within three minutes."

"There is.. another issue we have to resolve right now." Traynor said, and called up a hologram at the center of the transport. A brilliant three-dimensional image of the universe appeared. After a few taps on some controls, the view zoomed in on a brilliant purple expanse of stars.

"As far as I've been able to deduce, we're a few hundred light-years from the Sol system, but still in the local cluster. From what Pressly and I know, we know there are two Alliance listening posts hidden from the Batarians that still have contact with two separate fleets."

"Which ones?"

"The closest one is three weeks away, and allows us to contact the Second Fleet. The other will take a month to reach but gets us a channel to the Fifth Fleet."

"The Fifth Fleet." Ashley smiled as she imagined the mighty armada. "That's my home fleet. If we rendezvous with them I'm sure they'll be delighted with the addition of another Mass Effect-capable ship and a boat-load of iridium."

"Now wait a minute, Gunnery Chief." Pressly called from his duty station. "The Second Fleet is in a much worse shape than the Fifth. If there's anyone who needs the iridium more it's the colonists."

The bridge was quickly engulfed into an increasingly bitter argument as the two Alliance soldiers argued which Alliance Remnant fleet to approach.

"The fuck is wrong with you guys?!" Harry shouted through the din as others started to get pulled into the argument. "We're still sitting ducks out here while enemy ships are closing in on us. We need to get moving _now!_ Traynor, you mentioned the Second Fleet is nearer, correct?"

"Not exactly. Just because their listening post is near doesn't mean the actual fleet is at the vicinity."

"Whatever, it's good enough." Harry waved away the complications. "Pressly, program your course and hit the button, or whatever you need to do to engage FTL."

Ashley wanted to argue further, but Harry stepped right up to the female marine and slapped her face hard. _'I always wanted to smack this bitch.'_

"Shut up you cowhole. This isn't the time to argue."

Fiery anger erupted from her eyes. "Who put you in charge?"

"Me." The boy answered bluntly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"You're not even Alliance."

A silence swept through the bridge as Harry failed to come up with a good response. He already saw others doubt his presence. _'Shit, this is bad.'_

"We'll discuss this later." Harry growled. "For now, I want us to get to safety. Pressly, what's taking so long?"

"We're working on it!"

"It's already past four minutes. We're going to get blown out of the skies if we don't get a move on!"

"There's a complication at the engines. Engineer Daniels reports that it is taking longer than usual to hack the drive controls."

The seconds ticked by as the bridge crew stood helpless as the technicians tried to get the ship into FTL. Pressly worked up a mighty sweat as he shouldered the duel burden of being both the ship's pilot and navigator. Traynor, who appeared to be well versed in the Batarian language and their computer systems, helped out where she could.

'_Damnit.. I thought this was supposed to take three minutes. What is taking Gabby so long?'_

In a small part of Harry's mind, the boy feared that something might have happened to Gabby. She might be having second thoughts, or she could be sabotaging the FTL in a misguided attempt to get back at him. _'She doesn't seem the type though.'_

"Detecting incoming bogeys!" Traynor suddenly called. "Two Batarian frigates have appeared on our starboard side!"

Jacob studied the computer readouts from an empty screen. "Are our kinetic barriers up?!"

"Negative, sir! The transport can't sustain barriers when it is preparing to FTL."

"Damnit!" Jacob cursed and lost control over himself. "This transport is an outdated piece of junk. There's no way we can outrun the frigates with our sublight engines."

"The Batarian vessels are firing torpedoes! ETA 50 seconds! We won't be able to dodge them!"

"Get that FTL engaged immediately! I don't care about the destination, just make the transition!"

"Working on it, sir!"

"Thirty seconds until impact."

A loud whine then started to reverberate around the ship. "Daniels did it! The FTL drive is charging up. Disengaging locks now."

"Twenty seconds until impact!"

"Engaging FTL now!" The navigator yelled and slammed his fist on a control.

Harry immediately felt a tingle in his stomach not unlike portkey travel. Something seemed to clutch at his navel and the rest of his body and propelled his entire being along a path of heightened energy. He looked at the viewscreens in front of the bridge and saw that the black and empty universe has transformed into a tunneling visage of blue wonder.

"FTL is successfully engaged. Course is set to the Second Fleet's listening outpost. ETA on arrival is twenty-two days."

"We did it.." Traynor muttered with amazement. "We actually escaped the Batarians.. we're free."

Everyone became happy and relieved at that important realization. They had accomplished the impossible, and escaped a tortuous fate of hard labor and denigration. No longer did they have to break their backs for the quota, or lay their bodies bare to a brute of a man. Now they could finally begin to regain the humanity the Batarians were so eager to stamp out of their tired and defeated bodies.

"Traynor, stand down the ship and get that annoying alarm turned off." Jacob ordered soberly as the realities of the day returned. "We need to tend to the wounded and.. take care of the dead. I doubt this ship possesses a morgue or a large freezer, so.."

The Corsair left the words unspoken. If it came to it, they had to dump the bodies into space. Keeping them around while they rot only caused further problems.

Chief Williams agreed with Jacob's assessment, but had one more suggestion to make. "After the casualties are addressed, I propose that we assemble and clarify once and for all the chain of command."

"Good call, Ashley." Jacob grunted, then looked a little uncertain himself. "It won't be easy since we're all from different branches and fleets. Overseer Harry is even a civilian."

"A civilian, I remind you, who made this all possible." Harry retorted icily as he swept his hand over the entire ship. If these grunts thought they could take away his hard-earned gains, then they were sorely mistaken.

With a modest bow, Harry left the bridge. "I'm sure we can come to terms."

The desperate escape from the mining camp and the battle for the ship was just the prelude. As far as Harry was concerned, the real fight started now. _'I'm not going to lose everything I worked for and give up my independence. I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel the universe wherever I want and I'm not letting some rotting fleet take that away.'_

Already, the gears were turning in his head. It would take all his shrewdness and all of his intelligence to come out on top. While he could simply order his men to turn on the Alliance soldiers, he doubted whether anyone would be left alive. To further complicate his situation, Harry still required Pressly and Gabby to operate his new ship properly. He might alienate both of them if he resorted to drastic measures.

'_What I wouldn't give for my wand.'_ The wizard mused as his frown increased. He resolved to figure out a way to expand his wandless magic into more than just a few crude spells. He refused to believe his neutered state is permanent. _'I grew up with magic. I grew old with magic. It flows through my veins and responds when I want it to. I should be able to do more with my wandless magic.'_

Already his mind cast back to possible solutions, from meditation to crafting imitation wands. No matter how much Harry was set back on this, he vowed to regain his former power. _'A wizard is nothing without his magic.'_

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


	8. I: A Contentious Debate

October 5, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** No comment.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_A Contentious Debate_

* * *

The butcher's bill was long, longer than Harry had thought. While the Batarian crewmen were few in number, they possessed enough training to arm themselves and fight back. The handful of Batarian marines exacted an especially heavy toll on the humans. Despite the bounty reaped from other Batarians, most of the escaped men and women lacked both arms and armor. They constituted the brunt of the casualties.

The bodies needed to be disposed of immediately before they rotted. Their continued presence also put a dampener on everyone's mood. Therefore, with Harry's urging, the crewmen stripped the corpses of anything valuable, noted their identities, and dumped them all out the airlock. While Harry wanted this chore to be done with quickly, Jacob insisted they pay the bodies proper respect.

That was the reason why all of the survivors gathered at the entry hatch. Each of the scarred humans appeared grim as they stared at the neat row of bodies that were about to be chucked in the unforgiving cold while the ship still traversed in FTL space. No one knew what would happen to the bodies as they left the transport's FTL envelope. Hopefully they would eventually end up in a better place than now.

"Men, women, today we salute those who have sacrificed their lives to pursue an ideal." Jacob began, looking solemn at the faces of the survivors. "We achieved the impossible, and we couldn't have done it without them. Cherish your second chance, and live your lives with meaning. For humanity!"

"For humanity!" Everyone echoed.

After a few more preachy words, Harry finally sighed in relief as Jacob ran out of words to say. He turned around, saluted the bodies one last time, then pressed the controls to lock the inner airlock and open the outer hatch, instantly decompressing the small compartment and flinging the lifeless corpses out into the vast expanse of blue-shifted space.

"Now that we have paid our respects for the dead, it is time we proceed to smooth out the command issues." Jacob gestured everyone to follow him. "I'm familiar with this ship class. There's a decent-sized mess hall not far away where we can convene."

The tension within Harry's body grew as they navigated the short and cramped corridors of the transport. While the Batarian vessel's cargo holds were large and spacious, very little attention was given to the crew compartments. Only the bare necessities were provided, and all of it was compressed into as little space as possible.

As everyone filed into the dull and dank mess hall, everyone took a seat. Harry made a mental headcount of the survivors. _'Including Conrad, only ten of my work group have survived. Good thing eight of them are now equipped with stolen Batarian armor and assault rifles, even if some of it is heavily damaged.'_

In contrast, the Alliance side was more numerous but less well-equipped. Jacob, Pressly and thirteen different women have all survived the conflict. That was no surprise, as they were all highly valued military types who kept a level head during the fighting. Four of them even carried rifles or pistols, though none of them wore armor due to the obvious lack of fit. Only Jacob and Pressly enjoyed that advantage.

If it came to a shooting match, truth to be told, Harry had no faith his side could win. They had proven plenty of times already how utterly incapable they were of following common sense advice such as staying in cover. Their marksmanship was equally terrible as they had a tendency to keep their trigger down, rapidly overheating their rifles. The same could not be said for the likes of Jacob and Ashley.

'_Perhaps if I helped out with my magic, I can turn the tide. But that course of action exposes more than what I'm comfortable with.'_

"Quiet please." Jacob called as he motioned the crowd into silence. "I have called for this meeting in order to clarify our organization. During the escape, it didn't matter who was ultimately in charge, since we were all following the same goals. Now that we have succeeded in our escape and obtained a ship, we must decide on several, difficult course of actions. As over half of us are former or current Systems Alliance personnel, I propose to confirm Navigator Pressly, who holds the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, as captain of this prize ship and elect him to overall command."

"Now wait a minute!" One of the miners called. "We're the ones who busted you all out! Overseer Harry should be the captain of the ship, not you useless dogs!"

Most of the other male miners agreed. They considered Harry one of their own, and in his short time in the camp he achieved far more than all the elite Alliance captives have ever done to them in decades.

"We're aboard a fragile ship filled with many tons of iridium." Ashley interjected as she banged the butt of her rifle against the table. "Every pirate dreams of capturing a ship like ours. The only way we can survive long enough to rendezvous with a Remnant fleet is to put ourselves under military command. Pressly's the only one here who has a clue how to command a naval vessel."

The navigator preened himself as he was showered with the praise.

Then Harry decided to rain on their party. "I refuse."

"Come again?"

"I refuse to subject myself to Pressly's or any other Alliance leadership. He's just going to hand over this ship to the nearest fleet and earn himself a hefty promotion while leaving us all empty-handed."

Pressly sputtered against Harry's allegations. "This ship is too important to keep to ourselves, if that is what you're suggesting. Any Mass Effect capable ship, even a modest transport like this, has immense value to any Alliance fleet. For the good of humanity we must surrender it peacefully. I will make it utmost sure that the admiral will not forget our sacrifice. The value of the iridium alone will merit a monetary reward."

"I don't see anything good in giving up our ship." Harry repeated more firmly, and stood up from his chair to address everyone better. "What has the Alliance done for while we languished in Delta-349? Did the Alliance ever attempt a rescue operation? Did they smuggled arms and armor to us? No! We escaped with our own power. We have proven that with enough will, we can accomplish incredible feats. Why lose this opportunity and render ourselves helpless against the mercy of faceless bureaucrats and admirals up in their vaunted ivory towers?"

Most of the people listening had no clue what ivory towers meant, but Harry felt some satisfaction as his words wormed into their minds. While he hadn't made a convincing case for the Alliance goons, at least he swayed his own men against surrendering everything to a fleet.

Of course, Pressly didn't stand by this. "Son, you are out of line! I am grateful that you have organized the escape but commanding a complex, space-faring vessel is best left for professionals. I can't believe we are having this discussion right now. Martial law is still in effect as it has been for over two centuries. As the highest ranking representative of the Systems Alliance Navy, I hereby commandeer this vessel."

An explosion of protests emerged from the miners, all of whom objected to the naked power grab. "I didn't risk my life to escape Batarian captivity only to let the Alliance exploit me all over again."

That sentiment quickly became the dominant position of the men. Some of them even grew agitated to the point of readying their rifles, though they did not quite point them at the Alliance ex-captives.

"Calm down!" Jacob ordered forcefully. He had noticed some of the miners' fidgeting and feared an escalation of violence. "We won't get anywhere with fighting each other. Look, I understand your concerns but alone we'd never make it out here in space. This tramp we're on is a lightly shielded hauler with no shipboard armaments to speak of. Any pirate or Batarian we come across with will tear us apart. The Alliance Navy is our only hope for our continued survival."

"You mean the Second Fleet." One of the women said bitterly. "Why are handing over this ship to those colonist bumpkins? The Fifth Fleet is by far the best equipped to make use of the supplies."

"Hey, the Second Fleet is has taken the brunt of the Batarian assault." Ashley erupted angrily. "If there is one fleet which is more deserving of our supplies, it's the Second."

"The Second is a sinking ship! We should drop out of FTL and head to the listening post of the Fifth immediately!"

This time it was the Alliance crew who argued amongst themselves. They came from diverse fleets and all of them wanted to return to the armada where they grew up and went into service. Pressly tried to subdue the squabble by insisting they maintain their course to the Second Fleet, but that only ignited more division.

'_It seems like the Alliance is more divided than I thought.'_ Harry noted the extreme animosity each fleet member held against each other, their common ancestry as humans wasn't sufficient in binding them together. It soon dawned on the boy that centuries of isolation had driven the fleets of humanity apart. It was as if they were separate kingdoms all competing for the same resources.

Throughout this chaos, Jacob tried a conciliatory tone. "This is going nowhere. Let's just head to the Second Fleet and sell our ship and cargo. After everyone receives their fair share, we'll split and allow everyone to return to their original fleets."

That only polarized the debate even further until everyone pretty much argued for a different solution.

Harry had sat back patiently, monitoring the discussion closely. He predicted it might come to this. When the hostilities were raised so much that a couple of hotheaded men started to raise their rifles, Harry forcefully slammed both of his fists against the table and commanded their immediate silence.

He let the silence stretch. The fact that none of the squabbling men and women even dared to break the silence spoke magnitudes about the respect they gave him. The wizard couldn't help but make a very confident smirk. _'Appearances still matter. People have always been sheep.'_

Summoning up all vestiges of his dormant Dark Lord persona, he began to _speak._ "How many people have died today? Twenty human beings. They joined the escape effort, knowing that they might not succeed. Yet they braved the risks and bought our freedom with their lives. Jacob is right. The last thing we want to is squander the opportunity we have so dearly bought in blood."

The unexpected nod to Jacob surprised the Corsair, but Harry wasn't finished. "When I look at what remains of humanity, I see fractured fleets, crumbling ships and a race that is increasingly losing the remaining shreds of its sovereignty. Do you think you will do justice to our fallen brothers and sisters if we let ourselves be absorbed by them?"

A few low no's murmured through the hall.

"Some of you think that staying independent is folly. I reject that notion. The fleets are too spread apart to stave off extinction. It might not happen tomorrow, but we will all be dead by the end of the century."

"Then what do we do?"

"I'm glad you asked, Conrad." Harry replied smoothly. "Think of what we accomplished today! We defied our fate and spat in the eyes of the Batarians. Despite the danger, despite the hopelessness of it all, we persevered because we believe in a dream. Do you know what dream that is?"

"Freedom!"

"Yes, freedom! Destiny sought to put us down and strip us of our hopes, but we fought back and we succeeded. While we regrettably suffered some losses, we can make that up by not letting their sacrifices go in vain."

"What do you suggest?" A curious Traynor asked.

Harry smirked wider, knowing he was pulling in some of the doubters. "We stay together and melt the division that keeps us apart. We will no longer be Second Fleeters or Fifth Fleeters, marines or naval officers. From now on, we become humans, fighting the Batarians on behalf of all the fleets and all the service branches."

"But.. what can one transport ship do?"

"Nothing, at first. But you are looking at it the wrong way. Remember that we were all slaves or whores just a day ago. Despite that setback, we were able to seize opportunities no one else had seen and achieved something incredible. I know we can do it again. We will attack the Batarians again, taking more and more spoils from them until we are a veritable force to be reckoned with. It doesn't matter how weak our ship is when the people who crew it are strong and capable. I ask you now, are you up to the task?"

"Yes!" A good part of the crowd responded in unison. What surprised Harry was that almost half of the women joined the cheer. He had passed one hurdle. Now came the most difficult one.

"I am proud that you are stepping up to the task. Now, I am asking just one more thing from you. Put your trust in me. Let me lead you into battle."

This caused the elated men and women to grow more apprehensive. Harry quickly followed up before the doubt settled in too deep. "Yes, I know that I am not the most obvious person to take command. But consider that you have all been relying on me from the very moment I initiated the escape plan. From the very moment of my arrival I had resisted the oppressive culture of obeying the Batarians blindly. I defied them from the start, planning a bold escape and gathering you all together to achieve the improbable. And that despite – or maybe because of – my lack of military training."

His next move was risky, and committed him to a path he could not step back from. Yet he knew he had to take risks. So with a heavy sigh, he gestured towards the glowering Pressly.

"Consider the officer who seeks to usurp my command. Look at him, just look at him. Is he worthy enough to decide the course of your lives? Do you trust him to act in the best interest of humanity?"

The women largely didn't know him, and despite his relative senior rank he engendered little trust from those of different fleets.

"He's a First Fleeter. He doesn't know what it's like to fight in the frontiers."

"He doesn't look like captain material to me."

The men on the other hand were quite familiar with the prominent Alliance prisoner.

"That Alliance snob was a prisoner since I was brought to the camp over fourteen years ago." Another older miner began. "How much has he done for us all these years? He never talked to us or fought back against the Batarians. He bent his back and did their bidding all those long and boring years. Harry has done more to me in a month than Pressly has done during my entire captivity. There's no contest as far as I'm concerned."

Harry widened the gap between him and the increasingly resentful navigator. "I am sure that the Lieutenant-Commander is a capable navigations officer. He passed the required training, served his time on the front and he might have even had a bright promotion ahead of him. But the fact is that none of what we achieved is due to his efforts. Yet he has the gall to demand we surrender the ship to his unworthy and undeserved command."

Most of the men started to openly boo at Pressly. The officer patiently heard Harry out, but now he could contain himself no longer.

"Now wait a minute, son." Pressly began as he stood up himself to take the stage from Harry. "Do you know what you are proposing? Anarchy! Gathering a mob and throwing them at the Batarians is a feat anyone can do. But captaining a ship is an entirely different matter altogether. You, who don't even know what Mass Effect means, are utterly incapable of directing this transport, let alone an escape pod. Harry, with all due respect, what you are suggesting is madness. End this all, and trust the Alliance to do what is right."

Harry frowned a little. Pressly explained his point well, and a handful of people nodded in agreement. The boy had to regain his momentum. "You are right. I don't know much about spaceships. But unlike you, I have an open mind. I see what others don't. Just as you have done nothing during the entirety of your captivity, I saw plenty of opportunities none have seen and took advantage of them when no one else dared. My job is not to know the nuts and bolts about operating a starship. My job is to lead people who do know how to handle this ship, and focus on the bigger picture."

As a few applauses sounded out, Pressly evidently ran out of counterarguments, his insistence on his rank sounding increasingly more hollow. A lot of his fellow Alliance spacers had lost faith in him as Harry painted him as a do-nothing has-been. Pressly wanted to do the safest option, which was reasonable if boring. What Harry offered was danger, risk and opportunity. While there was a good chance that Harry might blunder as a captain, their recent victory still echoed closely in their memories. That inspired instant loyalty to the young but daring civilian. Ordinary hierarchy lost its meaning altogether during this debate.

But Navigator Pressly still had one more card to play. He crossed his arms and lifted his chin contemptuously. "As an officer of the Systems Alliance, I refuse to bend my neck to an untrained and undisciplined child. You may have succeeded in convincing my fellow spacers to follow you into hell, but I reject your authority. As long as you or any other civilian is in command, I will lift no finger to help you. Figure out the complex navigation charts and calculate FTL courses on your own."

'_Shit, he's got me there.'_ While Pressly boycotted Harry's command, no one else was qualified to take over as pilot or navigator. The ship they worked so hard to obtain would become as stranded once they pop out of FTL. _'I was afraid he might go this far.'_

Harry sighed deeply, exaggerating his disappointment. "Pressly, are you so ready to abandon your comrades just when they have tasted hope for the first time in years? How shameful. The majority of my crew has put their faith in me regardless of all the points you raised. Why can't you concede your defeat, and attempt to work together with me? I am not an unreasonable man. All I require is for you to do your duty, and show solidarity to your fellow human beings, both civilian and military. Is that too much to ask?"

Despite the growing animosity towards his hold-up, Pressly stayed firm and refused to change his mind. Some of his fellow Alliance soldiers such as Ashley and Jacob supported his stance, and called for sober leadership.

Harry would have none of it. He began to move, walking around his supporters and to the other side of the table where all of the women sat. He shuffled forward until he stopped behind the chair where an unassuming woman sat silently, trying her best not to become involved with the argument.

"Engineer Daniels here," Harry started as he set both of his hands on her tensing shoulders. "Is one of the brave women who put her life in my hands. Without her unflinching loyalty and her devotion to my cause, we would have never made it off that rock. She is one of the two people on this ship who is vitally important in making this ship work. I think it is unfair for Lieutenant-Commander Pressly to make a unanimous decision by himself. Let us hear what our engineer has to say."

Everyone shifted their eyes from Harry to Gabby, who wilted under the spotlight. Her shoulders grew more knotted and tense, and Harry quite deliberately began to massage her heating muscles.

Harry knew he was making a huge gamble here, and touching Gabby only increased the odds. He had no idea how his newest slave might respond. Would she expose her tormentor's wrongdoing, and rightfully accuse him of many horrible acts? If she defied Harry's grip over her life then he was quite sure the exposure would turn public opinion against him. _'But I've always been worried when Gabby might speak up. At least now I'm able to do it on my terms.'_

After thirty seconds of prolonged silence, the redhead spoke up with her cute and distinct American accent. "Harry.. is right. A captain is more than just a degree, or a rank. It has to be earned."

Her words choked up and she abruptly stopped talking. Gabby grew extremely uneasy and Harry figured he might have been the cause for her distress. _'You've done well, Gabby.'_ He thought fondly, and patted her head affectionately before retracting his arms, giving the poor girl some well-needed space.

Some part of him expected her to acquiesce. Harry was a crude torturer and manipulator of women, but he knew as long as he exerted a mild level of pressure, they would do what he wanted just to avoid further pain. The mental scars that he so brutally inflicted on her psyche gave him an opening into her mind. Long years of tormenting similar women had left him with a rough intuitive grasp on how to manipulate their vulnerable minds, though more often than not it backfired eventually.

'_I hope that Gabby stays strong enough until I manage to recruit another engineer or two.'_

For now, he treated Gabby gently, never hurting her explicitly but constantly reminding her that he was still capable of more if she should cross him in the future.

Despite the massive discrepancy in support, Pressly still remained obtuse. Jacob and Ashley provided some well-needed moral support for his decision, making it virtually impossible to budge the navigator from his stubborn stance. Even Harry started to run out of ideas. _'That stubborn officer isn't budging an inch.'_

"You can object to me all you want," Pressly responded to the growing crowd of concerned and disgruntled people. "But the truth is that I am not going to stake our lives on the decisions of an amateur. He got lucky once, but it won't last forever."

After a few minutes of fruitless haggling, Harry exhausted all of his rhetorical skill. Jacob noted everyone's disgruntlement and stepped into the silence. "I think it is best we adjourn and cool down. Let's resume in an hour."

* * *

Everyone drifted apart. The hardcore Alliance loyalists exited the mess hall first to discuss matters privately. A mixture of other men and women were entering the kitchen and see what kind of food they can whip up for the crew. Others left to visit the bridge or engines to work on the systems. Still others headed to the crew compartments to claim their bunks.

Harry arrived to the captain's quarters and claimed it for himself before Pressly or anyone else had the bright idea to do it. The office that doubled as the former captain's sleeping quarters wasn't as bad as Harry had feared. The quarters were neat and tidy, and alongside a few strewn datapads and half-empty liquor bottles he felt right at home. The luxurious double bed, the large computer terminal and of course a fully functioning bathroom surpassed his previous abode by leaps and bounds. Then he discovered the captain's main hobby. _'The huge liquor bar is also nice, even if most of this Batarian liquor is beneath me.'_

Still, with all the stress of the day, he could use a drink or two. Harry retrieved a random bottle that looked somewhat normal and poured himself an empty glass. He swirled the liquid around, finding the fizzle and bubbles a little disconcerting. _'What if not all Batarian stuff is edible for humans?'_

Back on Delta-349, he had learned quite a bit just by listening to the banter that went on in the mess hall. Among other lessons, he learned that the Batarians and humans both required roughly the same types of nutrients, and that only rarely was one species' food poisonous to the other species.

'_Well if we can eat each other's food, I suppose alcohol is another universal constant.' _With that thought, he sipped the foul and burning black liquid and gulped it down his stomach before his tongue stopped working. He coughed a little, surprised at the strength. Despite his discomfort, the wizard braved the Batarian swill and soon enjoyed a warm buzz – even if it was accompanied by a small headache.

Through this haze of intoxication, he had to rub his eyes at a hallucination that suddenly appeared before him. What was Chief Williams doing here, with an assault rifle pointed right between his eyes? He blinked dumbly, wondering why the illusion hadn't disappeared yet. A few moments later, other shapes appeared. Both Jacob, Pressly and that cute little Brit descendant named Traynor barged into his quarters with their rifles and pistols drawn. They hovered their aim between Harry and Ashley.

"For God's sake, put down your weapon, chief." Jacob admonished Ashley. "The last thing we want is a civil war to erupt. If Harry dies, all of his men will go berserk."

The chief had no intention of relenting. "Those rabble are just civilians! They're beasts, barely better than that pig that raped me so many weeks ago. I can't believe we're thinking about handing the keys to one of their ilk. The only way we can escape from this nightmare alive is if the Alliance takes over this hauler."

That was a problem. By now, Harry had disregarded this vision as a hallucination and tried to sit upright in his newly acquired chair. He showed no inkling of fear despite the fact that he had discarded his rifle onto the bed, far away from his reach. "Chief Williams. Do you really think you can compare me to that rabble outside? Are you actually stupid enough to threaten the only person who keeps the men and women in line?"

"Harry is right, Ashley. Murdering him will just make things worse." Jacob said, and slowly inched closer to the enraged woman.

The chief made an angry grunt and elbowed Jacob back when he came too close. "Back off!"

Before Jacob could attempt anything else, Ashley cocked her rifle and pulled the trigger. The loud burst of fire echoed in the quarters and reverberated back into the corridor, alarming others nearby. Those with access to guns immediately picked up their weapons and sprinted towards the source of the disturbance. Yet as they barged into the room, their services weren't needed anymore.

Harry hadn't survived this long without honing his instincts to an unparalleled height. The moment he spotted the change in Ashley's eyes, he knew she meant to harm him. Knowing that it was far too late to disarm the insane marine before she let out a stream of slugs, Harry instead leaned back in his chair and presented both of his palms in her direction.

The pattern of microslugs crashed into Harry's hastily erected _Protego_ and pulverized themselves against the immovable barrier. The glowing but wobbly barrier quickly winked out as the drunken wizard lacked the concentration to maintain the wandless spell. Only through thousands of repetitions was he able to conjure up the spell from memory.

"That.. was a stupid thing to do, bitch." Harry slurred uneasily as he swept a measured glare at the astonished soldiers.

"What.. did you do? That can't be a shield.."

"He's.. a biotic. But how can that be? Without implants, you can't…"

"It's not biotics. There's no tell-tale Mass Effect glow.." Jacob retorted, though even he appeared confused. "It's something different."

"I'm still talking!" The disgruntled wizard interrupted the muggles, and since the cat was already out of the bag, he cast a quick _Expelliarmus_ that caused Ashley's rifle to slip from her slackened grip. "Arrest that bitch and throw her into the brig."

A few moments of silence stretched as a few of the armed women awkwardly held Ashley's arms in place. "Let's go." One of them said, and the chief offered no further resistance.

The rest still stood like a rock in Harry's office. The boy made his displeasure known, and scowled at the gaping fish who still didn't know what to make of him. "What are you waiting for? Get out!"

"Sir," Jacob started, speaking for all of them. "Could you just explain to us how you.. did what you just did? The Batarians must have examined you for implants. Are you some kind of natural biotic?"

"I don't even know what biotic means!" Harry growled back and forcefully let out a wave of magic that pushed them all back a few steps. "Just leave! Do I have to fucking repeat myself or what?!"

That certainly got them going. They high-tailed it out of his quarters without another word. Everyone threw uncertain glances at him as they did, no doubt trying to rationalize Harry's magic in the framework of their current technological base. Most of them uttered that blasted word biotic over and over like it was the holy grail.

'_Is biotics their word for magic? No. They mentioned implants, which my magic quickly destroys.'_

But if biotics wasn't magic, what did it actually mean? Civilization has progressed so far that a lot of the technology appeared like magic to Harry. Is biotics some scientific means of telekinesis?

As Harry let the alcohol in his blood burn away, he groaned and covered his face with his palms. After all his careful efforts in hiding his magical abilities, he just had to reveal them moments after he perused a Batarian liquor. _'Me and my drinking ways.'_ The exposed wizard sighed, and tried to think up some way to mitigate the massive damage he caused to himself.

'_Perhaps this biotics thing is a convenient excuse.'_ If he disguised himself as a biotic, people would probably still look at him weirdly but won't freak out at least. If biotics were public knowledge, then power-hungry admirals had no reason to capture him and dissect his body. _'I can't believe I'm thinking this, but maybe exposing a little bit of my magic wasn't such a bad idea.'_

That depended on whether biotics was a good or bad thing. Hopefully they weren't regarded as freaks by modern society.

* * *

**End Notes: **No comment.


	9. I: A Varren Reborn

October 6, 2012  
Not Proofread  
Censored version  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** As someone who has written many negative reviews and flames (in the hopes that the author will do a better job next time), I almost always appreciate negative reviews no matter how (un)sophisticated they are. Almost. In truth, there is only one, narrow type of review written by a very small minority which I'd rather not read, because the reviewers have no idea what they are talking about. The entire basis of their smug criticism falls apart as soon as I poke a single hole in their argument.

These narrow-minded fundamentalists come in two variants. The first variant is usually someone with a technical or military degree and is highly scientifically literate. They point out scientific impossibilities such as the practicalities of laser weaponry and their effective range. In the _Star Empire_, it is implied that their effective range is in the thousands of kilometers. I had a very annoying reviewer who insisted lasers will shoot down anything in space in millions of kilometers, and that a single footstep inside a ship will shake off the aim. The second variant of reviewer focuses on the plot or setting and is someone who reviewed this story recently and told me how little sense it makes, because the Batarians are the scum of the universe and shouldn't be able to conquer the human race. The Citadel Council is also evil because they let the Batarians do their evil deeds.

In both cases, the reviewers are applying their own assumptions on a work of fiction where the rules do not adhere to reality or canon. By design. For example, if I want to write a story where lightsabers are plausible weapons, I'm not going to take a review seriously that picks lightsabers apart. That is became I am writing science-FICTION. If I say the range of a laser from a certain technological base is effectively 1000 km, it is 1000 km. I'll just borrow an excuse like diffraction which the core Mass Effect games also uses, coincidentally. If I inadvertently made a mistake or omission somewhere else, I'll just change the story's historical or technological setting to suit my needs. Because I can. To come back to the Citadel Council, if they didn't intervene in the Batarian conquest of humanity, that means that there are several possibilities available. You can figure it out on your own. But it is absolutely wrong to blindly assume canon Mass Effect events when they so clearly contradict to the _alternate universe_ setting of this _fictional_ story. The worst thing about these kinds of critics is that they never admit they were wrong.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_A Varren Reborn_

* * *

The sloppy revelation of Harry's magic – mistaken as something called biotics – fundamentally altered Harry's relationship with everyone else. In less than a minute, the entire ship had heard what transpired in his cabin. His loyalists felt vindicated by their unwavering support of Harry while his detractors kept their thoughts to themselves. Yet both friend and foe kept wondering how Harry was able to exert his biotic powers. Only through rare and priceless biotic implants, something that the diminished humanity lost the capability of producing, could people achieve impossible feats.

No one in the Alliance took biotics lightly. The few operatives remaining with biotic potential were bred and trained for the purpose. A single biotic in a squad of support personnel was a force to be reckoned with. With precise manipulation of gravity and the judicious deployment of disruptive techniques, firefights usually ended before it came down to trench warfare. With a biotic like Harry on their side, they held a rare and coveted advantage in their midst.

However, there was only one problem with that idea.

"There's not a single bone in his body that looks like he's been trained." Ashley remarked as she sat confined in an empty crew bunk. The transport was too small and insignificant to carry a brig, so she was kept here to cool her down.

"He's no good with the rifle, true. He doesn't even know how to fold it up." Jacob Taylor agreed behind the locked hatch. "Still, that suggests uncomfortable questions. The Alliance would never let a biotic loose without the most rudimentary training."

A grunt sounded next to him as Pressly scowled at the proceedings. "Isn't it obvious? Harry is not Alliance! At best, he's a clueless civilian from an isolated escape ship. At worst, he's an escaped experiment.."

"Let's not read too much in this. We need to proceed calmly and make the right decision."

Pressly pressed his hands into a ball, doing his best to restrain his outrage over this ridiculous situation. "The only right decision is to allow us, the Alliance, to take control of the vessel."

"You know as well as I do that we have lost that opportunity. Despite his apparent youth, I think he is used to getting his way. He might not have military training, but…"

The Corsair didn't elaborate. Even though he was quite certain that Harry was not a pirate, he had to reconsider that assumption in light of new developments. He might be the heir to a powerful civilian magistrate, or the scion of an influential person in the criminal world. In the post-conquest world, there were still far more civilian ships than military vessel roaming the backwaters of the local cluster. Only due to the high concentration of Alliance vessels were they able to dominate the remnants of human society. Civilian ships often times preferred to travel alone and hoard their scavenged goods for themselves. The enigma known as Harry might be descended from any number of ramshackle vessels.

"Pressly, with all respect, I think you should drop your insistence on taking command." Jacob eventually said. "Instead, go for the next best option. Use your leverage to demand concessions. I've got a few possible ideas…"

* * *

When the crowd of escapees next gathered, the Alliance cadre offered their terms.

With obvious displeasure, Pressly walked up to Harry and ground out his pre-prepared remarks. "In light of recent circumstances, I will drop my objection to your appointment as the captain of this vessel. However, I will only accept your orders if you grant us the following concessions."

"As long as it doesn't undercut my authority, let's hear it." Harry responded in a reserved manner. While he was glad this stalemate ended swiftly, he wasn't sure whether to give away too many favors.

"First, all command positions beneath you shall be appointed by rank or merit. This expressly includes the position of executive officer, the second-in-command to the captain. Despite the objections you have raised, I am very capable of running a ship smoothly. As your second, I will take care of the technical details so you may not have to concern yourself with matters.. beyond your expertise."

While the veiled barb was a little unnecessary, Harry understood the reality of Pressly's suggestion. No amount of study would ever allow him to catch up with the amount of knowledge, experience and talent these other men had in running the complex systems of this alien ship. He had stared at the likes of Gabby, Pressly and Traynor work their magic on incomprehensible consoles. For better or worse, he needed to delegate these complex matters to those far better suited than himself. This.. surrender, as he regarded it, suited him ill. _'I'd rather do everything myself, but even I know that operating a star-faring space ship is beyond my limited abilities.'_

"Acceptable." He responded neutrally, careful to avoid revealing his mixed feelings over the matter. Navigator Pressly might possess the best credentials for the job of XO, his actual personality was a lot more difficult to work with. _'Oh well, I can always arrange an accident if he decides to kick up a fuss.'_

Smirking widely, as he at least reeled in a position of power for himself, Pressly revealed the next point. "Secondly, any crew member that wishes to leave this vessel may do so whenever we are near a ship or facility that can accept our personnel."

Harry didn't respond to this demand immediately. He hadn't even considered it yet. Looking at the faces of the crowd, some appeared to be very interested at the opportunity to leave. _'Damnit, I need as much bodies as possible, but I can't crush their hopes completely.'_

"The current offer is unacceptable." The boy responded eventually. "We are in this for the long haul. I will not tolerate quitters. If any of you want to leave prematurely, you will have only one opportunity: when we next meet up with an element of the Second Fleet. If you do so then you are abandoning your comrades and the wishes of those who gave their lives for our freedom. I will not provide you with any resources or credits besides the clothes off your own back, and I won't let go more than half of our current numbers. Anyone of you who stays with me will have to serve at least a few years before I will even consider giving you the option of retirement, with a generous amount of pay."

This was an uneasy compromise that sounded very strict. Not many had thought of their futures yet and they were unsure whether it was wise to stick to Harry this long. Transferring to the Second Fleet looked like an attractive option, if not for the lack of monetary reward.

While Pressly tried to haggle Harry down, the wizard stepped his foot and refused to budge, knowing that the other side would cave in. They did a few minutes later. "Alright, you win Harry. We will accept your terms on this matter. The next demand we have is that you adopt military discipline throughout the ship and allow us to train the civilians to a basic military standard."

This idea had merit. Harry had witnessed many idiotic displays throughout the escape and firefight. Some of his men who wielded assault rifles had to spend half a minute to find the safety, or just didn't understand the reason why their rifles overheated so much. Their aim was terrible and they were liable to hit a fellow human due to the significant recoil. In order to avoid further accidents, the former miners needed to go through boot camp. The extra discipline and other silly military rituals would also help to make them more pliable.

"Your suggestion is.. acceptable. However, I do wish to make one exception. I will not waste my time with these shenanigans myself. You can keep your salutes and your protocols, but you can leave me out of it. Since I will be leading you most of the time, this shouldn't be a problem."

'_Damnit, is he on to us?'_ Pressly thought as he frowned at Harry's response. While training the undisciplined rabble was a necessity, their main goal with this demand was to slowly ease the impulsive young man into the Systems Alliance, or at least adopt an Alliance mindset. By refusing to participate in most of the military traditions, Harry would likely stay apart from the rest and maintain his stubborn independent personality.

"We will accept what you have laid out, Harry." Pressly responded with a disappointed sigh. "The final matter concerns our rules of engagement. Under no circumstances will we prey on human ships unless they are enemies of mankind themselves."

"Don't get your panties in a knot. I never considered turning pirate." Harry responded with conviction. "I hate the Batarians, just as you do. Our overall goal is to strengthen humanity while weakening the Batarians. This is something that I think we can all agree on."

They did, of course. Having finished his list of concessions, Pressly made a satisfied sound and addressed the crew at large. "From now on, Captain Harry… ehh.."

"Potter. Harry Potter."

"From now on, Captain Harry Potter is the commander of this vessel.. the.." Pressly tried to figure out the name of the ship but failed to recall it. "…this ship. Anyone who is willing to serve under him must obey his lawful orders. Please disperse for now while we fill in assignments. Your new superiors will summon you later to let you know what function you will serve aboard this vessel. Dismissed!"

Most of the men and women filed out, already discussing the changes that would be instituted. The forceful enlistment, for lack of better word, of the male side of the crew did not go down well. Harry took no heed of their objections. _'They will fall in line soon enough.'_

The usual trio of Ashley, Pressly and Jacob quickly approached the wizard as he was about the visit the kitchen.

"Harry-, I mean Captain, sir, we need to make some appointments immediately."

"Can it wait?" Harry responded with more than a little irritation. "I haven't eaten all day so I'm really eager to get some grub."

A woman who Harry didn't recognize handed him a plate of familiar Batarian paste. While Harry suspected that the stores had way better food than this slop, it was familiar and he had grown used to its unique brand of filth. He gestured the Alliance trio to follow him as he went all the way back to his now-official quarters.

The new captain calmly sat behind his desk and began to dig through his plate of grub. "So, what's this all about, Pressly?"

The XO clearly disapproved of Harry's.. distraction, but thought better than to comment on it. "Son, as I've said, it is important that we impose a hierarchy to keep our subordinates in line. This will be a little messy because not everyone holds the required rank to assume wider responsibilities. However, since we are operating independently from an Alliance Fleet, we can take a few liberties and use a separate rank structure for the duration of their service to us. I have some suggestions if you are willing to hear them..?"

"Go ahead."

"First, I move to promote Gabrielle Daniels as chief engineer. In the short time she has been with us, she has proven to be more than qualified for the position. She only lacks experience and assertiveness, but that will grow in time."

Harry grunted in approval. "Since Gabby is our only engineer we don't have much choice."

"I intend to find someone with a high technical aptitude to apprentice under her, and learn the basic routines in the event something happens to Daniels."

"Good idea. I approve."

"The next appointment I would like to make is to appoint Jacob Taylor to security officer. He will be in charge of the marines and handle boarding and counter-boarding. As a former Corsair, he is uniquely suited to the job."

"Hmm.." Harry trailed off, not quite sure with the idea. Jacob was certainly a capable marine, and a decent leader Harry supposed, but there were still some reservations. The wizard switched his gaze to Ashley. "What about her? What job will she take?"

"I planned to suggest her to the position of armaments officer, combining both armory management and ship-based weaponry management, even if we lack the latter for the moment. She possesses the right qualifications."

"I.. disagree with your choices." Harry finally replied after a moment of thought. Pressly didn't seem pleased, and neither did Ashley. The captain elaborated his decision. "You see, so far Jacob is level-headed enough to be an officer on his own right. Ashley on the other hand rather prefers to let herself be controlled by her emotions, to the point of barging into quarters and threatening me at gunpoint. In fact, she even pulled the trigger."

"Captain, I sincerely apologize for my actions. I was completely wrong and I acted disgracefully."

"You are forgiven, Ashley. No one was hurt… this time." That didn't mean Harry would forget the incident completely. Already his eyes were roaming over her finely-toned curves hidden underneath her unremarkable prison uniform. Oh he'd pay the bitch back tenfold when the time was right. For now, he played along. "In any case, my point is that Ashley has spirit. I'd rather much like her to be our security officer. Jacob can take the boring job of armament officer instead."

The captain's decisions were final, so the three had no choice but to accept Harry's verdict. Ashley at least seemed pleased, while Jacob's lips turned into a small frown. Well, Harry wasn't in the business of coddling these officers. They either learned or turned up dead.

"I am sure I can leave the smaller appointments up to you, Pressly. You have a better idea how this ship should be run so I am giving you free reign in that regard. Just remember that if there is any conflict between our intentions that my orders will trump yours."

With that mild reminder, the officers saluted and exited the cabin. Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair as he pushed away the empty tray. _'Finally it's over. After all the preparation, I finally have ship, and a ramshackle crew to make it do what I want.'_

A well of satisfaction surged through Harry's body as he mentally gloated over his success.

* * *

The next couple of days were spent learning the ship and organizing the crew. Harry's appointed officers were eager to work in the crew. Due to their numerous qualifications, most of the women were appointed to specialized duties, while the men were assigned to Ashley in order to learn some essential combat skills.

They looked down on her, of course, knowing that an overseer had raped her once a month ago. That instantly set Ashley off and she quite handedly kicked their asses in a series of spars. After that, all disrespect ceased, and the security officer was able to begin teaching them which end of the rifle shot out bullets.

In engineering, Gabby worked alone, as no one else was anywhere near qualified to work with the delicate equipment. It turned out that engineering was by far the most complex of ship functions you could train in, and that you required years of high-level study to even serve on a ship in a junior position. While Gabby had been thrust to responsibility a little too early, she coped as best she could and quickly displayed an impressive mastery of the transport's engine systems.

Harry visited her, of course, sometimes staying for hours to ask how things worked. He felt comfortable enough around his slave to ask her things that others might pause at. While the clueless wizard was careful not to let his ignorance too well-known, the strange questions did make the smart woman turn the wheels. Nevertheless, Harry received valuable instruction on how omni-tools worked, what kind of capabilities the FTL drive possessed and how to juggle matters such as fuel, water, oxygen and food.

He also couldn't help but torment the poor girl when he was there. Gabby gasped as she felt a pair of hands take hold of her ass. "Please.. sir.."

"Call my master when we're in private, slave." He whispered huskily as he caressed his palms over her tight and luscious globes.

"Master.. I have to work.. can you please.. stop?"

"I don't recall that masters have to listen to their slaves."

Having been forbidden to say what she wanted, Gabby bitterly kept her lips sealed as Harry's hands roamed over her body. One of them trailed up to mangle her bra-clad chest. The other dove down and caressed a spot where Harry had claimed her body. Just a single touch sent her reeling, but Harry's grip on her prevented her body from collapsing.

"Your body is mine, Gabby. All mine." Harry greedily smelled her clean feminine scent. With one hand, he kept tweaking her waist. With the other, he abused her modest but incredibly soft torso until he suddenly gripped her neck and squeezed off her air. "You will never tell me what to do!"

Her fearful eyes shook as she tried to nod her head. Satisfied, Harry eased his grip but kept her air constricted. The way he held her like this emphasized his complete dominance over her life.

"Since the moment I claimed you, your old life is over. From now on, you exist only to satisfy my urges. I'll fuck you when I want and where I want, because that is your only function in your life. You don't deserve anything better."

The tears flowed freely from her eyes now. She silently begged Harry a reprieve but he would have none of it. Instead, he grasped her cheek and turned her head in a kiss. His tongue invaded her mouth and she tried her best to retreat. A hard slap against her ass told her that was the wrong move to make, so she gave up and let Harry ravage her mouth.

Eventually, he retreated, though he still held Gabby's head in an unbreakable grip. "Open your mouth, you cunt. Wider!"

She did as she was told, gaping her cavity open in a humiliating display of submission. Harry grinned at the sight, and dreamed to stuff his rod into that warm canal. For now, he gathered a huge glob of saliva and spat it right into her mouth. The redhead almost gagged as she felt the foreign material ooze inside of her but Harry's firm grip scared her from doing anything else.

Harry smiled cruelly as he saw Gabby's dilemma. "I can do anything I want with you, slave. Your mouth will see a lot of use while you're in my service. Now swallow my spit and thank me for it. And smile!"

With a disgusted grimace, she tried her best to swallow it all in one go. Her lips turned into a shaky smile as Harry glowered at her lack of enthusiasm. "T-T-Thank you master."

"For what?"

"F-For.. spitting in my mouth."

"Good." Harry let go of her. "Spit won't be the last thing I'll deposit into your pretty little lips. Now kneel."

She dropped to her knees and held her position. Seeing her bend down like that before him gave Harry an incredible rush. Already his erection was bursting from his pants. With a haughty laugh, pressed his boot against the back of her face and pressed it down on the metal floor of the engine room. "Stupid little slave. When I tell you to kneel, I meant kneel until your fucking ugly mug is hugging the floor!"

He pressed more weight into his leg, almost crushing Gabby's skull. She made a few desperate mewling noises that continued to arouse Harry's libido. He loved nothing more than to crush a woman's spirit. When Gabby was on the verge of screaming out, his boot relented, allowing the girl some space.

Then he kicked her hard in the stomach, turning her over to her back as she cried out in agony. Harry chuckled darkly. "Tell me you love it, slave. Tell me you want this. Thank me for giving what you want."

She started off slow. "T-Thank you.. for hurting me.. I love it.. I want to be treated.. like dirt."

"MORE!" Harry yelled, and stomped on her crotch a few times, causing another delicious cry from the bitch, this time twice as loud.

"I love it, master! I love to be kicked and hurt and raped! Please rape me master! Please use me like I am meant to be used!"

"That's the spirit." Harry stopped hurting her and instead hunched over until his face hovered over hers. With a gentle hand, she brushed the stray bits of hair from her tear-streaked and fearful face. "There there, you've been a good little pet. As long as you admit that you're my pleasure toy, I won't hurt you too much."

Gabby let out an unwilling whimper as she realized she hadn't escaped further pain.

"Now, I haven't been laid in a while. Since you did so well so far and have been a loyal slave to me, it's time to give you a treat. Open wide, my lovely pet."

She immediately opened her mouth as wide she could. Harry slowly slinked down a hand, and sunk it past her lips. Gabby almost felt like vomiting as she felt the insidious fingers expand in her mouth, groping her tongue and the walls of her insides. After a while Harry retreated his saliva-coated hand, and used it to zip open his pants. His raging pole throbbed in the open environment of recycled air. Harry grasped his meat and spread Gabby's spit along his entire length, lubricating it until it glistened under the artificial light.

"I'm going to fuck your mouth now, and you will love every second of it. I want to hear nothing from you except pleasing moans. If I come out to let you breathe, you will thank me for using you as my masturbation tool. Is that clear, my little slave?"

She nodded obediently, knowing what was in store, but powerless to escape. "I understand Master. Please use my mouth."

With a sleazy grin, Harry climbed over her vulnerable head until he looked directly down on it and grasped both sides of her face in an inescapable grip. "Get ready, Gabby. If you perform well, I might give you a reward."

The cruelest part about Harry's remark was that Gabby didn't know whether the reward was good or bad. Yet she didn't have a choice. Through the wizard's constant torment, she hardly dreamed of resisting his advances anymore. It scared her far she had gone, and whether Harry broke her even more than he already had. _'I don't.. want to live like this..'_

* * *

Besides harassing Gabby, Harry spent most of his time roaming the ship and basically showing the flag as it were. As the crew settled down and adjusted to a new routine, most of the men and women took orders from their immediate superiors. If Harry rarely let himself be seen, he risked becoming irrelevant.

His executive officer was visible working out the kinks of the command structure. While Pressly constantly inquired about complex technical subjects such as kinetic barrier tolerance, Harry instead focused on the human side of the equation. While his long isolation and admittedly less-than-stellar treatment of female captives stunted much of his social growth, the men and women respected him enough to compensate for any shortcomings in that area.

Strangely enough, the person who he drifted to the most was Specialist Samantha Traynor, who was currently assigned to sensors and communication. She hid a wickedly sharp mind behind her pretty face, and her posh Received Pronunciation made him feel right at home.

Perhaps he'd drag her into his bed and rape her into utter submission some time.

'_Nah. I'm still not done yet with Gabby. I can squeeze out a lot more fun from her before I move on to bigger fish.'_

Until then, he visited her during off-hours, sharing a cup of Batarian coffee (or what passed for it) while discussing how the descendants of Britain fared today in what he now learned was the twenty-fifth century according to the human calendar.

"Wow, I didn't know you grew up in the First Fleet like Pressly." Harry remarked in surprise. "The two of you are worlds apart."

"XO Pressly is an officer before my time. And the First Fleet is so large that separate communities still exist. We Brits make our home in the megaliner _SSV York_. Now there's a beauty.. as long as a dreadnought, but with the armor of a frigate. Thousands of us Brit descendants live there at any time, you know. We try to keep most of our culture intact, but after two centuries of drifting and intermingling in space… well the only thing we have left is our accents."

"That's.. depressing.."

Samantha shrugged. "A lot of other ships have it worse. At least the _York_ sails under the protection of the First Fleet. Out of all the other fleets, the First is the most intact. That's because we refused to make a last stand at Earth. We still get a lot of flak for that from the other fleets.."

She stared at Harry a little uncertainly, and the wizard finally figured out why. He reached out and patted her delicate hands. "I'm just a bumpkin who grew up on a small and isolated ship, remember? I don't begrudge your ancestors for pulling out. Everyone with a decent brain could see that the Batarian invasion fleet was light-years ahead of what the Alliance could field. At least the First Fleet took as many survivors as they could."

Having learned little by little how the Batarian Conquest unfolded, Harry truly sympathized with the dejected survivors that live on today in scrounging and scurrying ships. Despite the relative few numbers of the Batarian invasion fleet, their strange exotic barriers and remarkably agile FTL capabilities made mince-meat of humanity's best. No matter how many ships the human Systems Alliance threw at the relentless invaders, the Batarians bloodied the massive fleets in each and every battle. Only on the ground did humanity fare better, mainly due to the liberal use of mechanized combat. While the Batarians mostly relied on massed infantry and the occasional gunships, the human military had no qualms on sending out thousands of tanks and bombarding entire cities with massive artillery.

Yet even with the relative success of the ground campaigns, as long as the Batarians maintained air and space superiority, they had the power to bombard any organized resistance with impunity, and often did. As more and more Alliance ships and strategically important production facilities fell in combat, the odds were increasingly stacked against the fledging race of man. The Batarian numbers stayed roughly the same while thousands of human ships dwindled as they heroically tried to delay the aliens' advance to Earth, the center of humanity and the capital of a proud and promising race.

"Earth.. I have so many dreams about our homeworld." Samantha said, letting her coffee grow cold. "When I was young, I used to watch the images of London and many other cities our ancestors brought with them. I wanted to achieve that dream, and embody that image of a couple walking in the City of London with their hands clasped together and with fireworks blazing in the air for some forgotten celebration. That's why I enlisted in the System Alliance."

"That's a very brave thing to do, Sam." Indeed, he was quite impressed by the charming woman. With her bright intelligence, she could have made it far in any number of jobs. "You did the right thing. You're still doing the right thing. I plan to use this vessel we captured to beat the Batarians a bloody nose for messing with our race."

"I believe in you, sir." And with that, she quickly drained her cold coffee and left to catch a few hours of sleep.

Harry stayed behind, hugging an empty cup. He wondered whether he could ever fulfill Traynor's dream. The challenges facing him were almost insurmountable. While the immortal wizard was in it for the long game, the Batarians might just be too immense to force them back within any single person's lifetime.

'_This isn't another harebrained escape attempt this time. Driving off an alien invader who has spent two centuries digging themselves in will be much harder than it sounds.'_

Yet as always, Harry refused to bend his head against fate. While every other human had accepted that humanity will slowly become extinct, the sole wizard in this universe set a goal for himself and determined to make it true. _'I will free Earth from the Batarians within Samantha's lifetime.'_

The only question was whether Harry would rape that lovely chocolate-skinned Brit before or after he achieved that impossible goal. Somehow, he continued to dwell on that question. While he enjoyed her company, it also increased his lust over her. If she continued to seduce him he might very well lose control.

Harry still mulled over the issue two weeks later, when their little transport almost reached her destination. In less than thirty minutes, they would drop back into a relative standstill in the orbit of a lifeless planet which the Alliance once placed a few bases. While most of them had been bombed back into the stone age by passing Batarian ships, the Second Fleet repaired the least damaged outpost just enough to make it function as a contact point for allied ships.

The next step of Harry's adventure started soon.

"Sir?" Traynor spoke out from her console. "I just realized we forgot to change the ship's transponders. If we drop into orbit of our destination planet in our current state, the outpost will freak out. If they have any self-defense capabilities they might send missiles or fighter craft after us. In order to mark us as friendlies, we have to change our ship's identity."

"What is our vessel's current name?" Harry asked, mentally slapping himself for not thinking about this earlier.

"Let me check." After a few seconds of readouts, she turned back to him with a pensive face. "The transport's current name is in Batarian. It means.. The Varren's Pack."

The main viewscreen switched to an image displaying the ship's name in the Batarian alphabet along with an emblem displaying multiple.. howling dog-like heads.

"What's a varren?"

"They're reptilian vermin. The Batarians raised them as pets and let them loose in combat. We don't know much about them, where they came from and when the Batarians domesticated the species, but they are capable of tearing a squad of fully trained marines apart."

"Sounds like they are nasty creatures." Already Harry had an unpleasant image of a varran biting his nuts. Ouch. "Well, obviously we can't adopt this stupid name. We need something more human-like."

For a few seconds, he mulled over different possibilities. Should he name this ship after one of his long-deceased friends? Nah. It'd be awkward to live, breathe and sleep inside a ship called the _Hermione Granger_. As his eyes glazed over the stylized emblems of the howling varrens, he suddenly had his answer. With a hefty breath, he pulled himself to his feet and with a few seconds of tinkering, he opened a comm channel to the rest of the ship.

"Crew, in less than thirty minutes, we will come into contact with the rest of humanity. From this moment on, we will start our mission and save mankind from extinction. We shall guard humanity from the depravities of the alien, keep their predatory ships at bay while finding new solutions to combat them no matter how many sacrifices we have to make. We will not contribute to the fracturing of the Alliance Remnant. Instead, we will interact with all the Fleets, from the First to the Fifth, and seek ways to bind them all together for the common good of man. Henceforth, we shall pursue our mission and protect mankind under the moniker of our newly renamed ship, the _SSV Cerberus_."

* * *

**End Notes:** In my author's notes above, I went on another rant that is probably counter-productive to my review count. I can't help it. I just want to educate you readers or at least steer you from the wrong path. In truth, reviewing a story's plot structure or technological base can be a valuable activity that may expose critical flaws before they sink in too deep. In my previous story _The Star Empire_ I planned a rather ill-received plot twist that might have scared off half my readers. The outrage that I received has taught me a valuable lesson on how to write and structure plots in a more consistent manner, so that readers won't feel they are repeating Mass Effect 3's original tri-color ending.


	10. I: Conducting a Trade

October 7, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** By now, some readers may have noticed that this is not the most innocent fic in the world (again, I refer you to _The Star Alliance_ for that kind of fluff). In truth, I am still quite pissed at FFN for making _The Star Empire_ unsustainable in its current form. Due to their fanfiction purge last July I was forced to destroy a flawed, polarizing but beloved fic. _Hegemony_ is sort of my revenge. I am going to stretch the M-rating as far as I can without going into truly MA territory.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_Conducting a Trade_

* * *

In an unremarkable star system many hundreds of light-years away from Earth, a ship appeared from FTL. It was a dark, blocky starship as large as a cruiser. The hidden Alliance Remnant listening post embedded deep within the crust of the Mars-like planet immediately focused all of its sensors on the new arrival.

Subsequent data quickly revealed that the ship had none of the deathliness of a Batarian cruiser. For one, most of her hull was composed of a humongous cargo bay. The energy output was also many times less than a typical warship, and her kinetic barriers were a joke. As the transport finally identified herself as the _SSV Cerberus_, the handful of Alliance troops that occupied the post breathed a sigh in relief. While there was still a substantial chance that this was a Batarian trap, at least the power disparity was not that big.

Up on the bridge of the _Cerberus_, Harry sat calmly on his captain's seat, observing the planet and the solar system from the sensors along his vessel's hull. _'I can't believe we actually travelled so far in so short a time. The future truly is a magnificent time.'_

While the nominal captain goggled at the visuals like a three-year old kid, the executive officer passed out orders while piloting the _Cerberus_ into a gentle orbit around the planet. "Specialist Traynor, is anything showing up on sensors?"

"No sir, the system is completely empty. I detect no emissions from the planet either, but the _Cerberus_' sensors are not powerful enough to penetrate beneath the surface."

"Have you detected any communication channels?"

"I have detected no emissions of any kind except background noise, sir."

"Hmm…" Pressly tried to figure out how to proceed. His extended absence from active service caused him to forget many protocols. "Specialist Traynor, try to hail the listening post as discretely as possible."

"Engaging directional radio broadcast now, sir. What should we say?"

"Keep the message as brief as possible. Identify ourselves as the _SSV Cerberus_ and mention that we are escaped slaves looking to trade with other Alliance Remnant elements. Tell them that we have a lot of iridium to catch their attention."

After composing a short text message, Traynor sent it down to the planet. It took only a minute or two to receive a reply.

"We've received a transmission!"

"Well let's hear it." Harry commanded, eager to get into contact with another wayward branch of humanity after a month of isolation.

"It's.." Traynor hesitated a little. "Several sets of coordinates. The first sets are coordinates for us to transmit laser-based communications. I recommend we switch over from radio to lasers immediately in order to limit our emissions."

"Granted." Pressly said immediately. "What else does the message contain?"

"They want to meet us in person and inspect our cargo. Either we can land on the planet, or let them send up a shuttle."

"It looks like they're really interested in our iridium." Pressly concluded with a smile. "No surprise there. With this much raw material, the Second Fleet can replace a lot of worn material." He turned to Harry. "Captain, I recommend we stay in orbit and receive their shuttle. If we land and take-off from the planet below us, we will waste a lot of fuel."

"Good idea. Tell them they are welcome to shuttle over."

After sending a precise burst of lasers to one of the listening post's receivers, the bridge crew waited for half an hour until they finally detected new activity.

"Sir!" Traynor called as she worked behind her sensor console. "I'm detecting a small mass effect signature taking off from the planet. According to the computer's estimates, it will reach us in.. seventeen minutes."

"Thank you. Keep monitoring the shuttle and try to analyze whether it is armed." Pressly then turned back to the captain. "Sir, I advise you to start preparing for their arrival. Perhaps it's a good idea to.. dress the part."

Harry looked down on his clothes, the same slave smocks that he hadn't bothered to change since his escape. "Fine suggestion, Pressly, but I don't have any other clothes."

The executive officer pressed his lips, and gestured to the other personnel. "This ship possesses a small omni-gel fabricator. Most of us have already used it to rework our clothes into proper Alliance uniforms."

'_So that's where the uniforms came from.'_ Harry had thought that Pressly's blue officer uniform and Traynor's rugged outfit were simply scavenged from Batarian lockers, but it turned out these were proper Alliance uniforms. "I'm not an Alliance officer though, so I won't be wearing a uniform like yours. I'll figure something out myself."

"Sir, if I may, I can escort you to the fabricator and program your new outfit to your specifications." Traynor volunteered, and Harry accepted her officer.

The two left the bridge and went down along the length of the ship until they reached a compartment just ahead of the engine room. Samantha unlocked the hatch and gestured inside. "In here, sir."

The room was plain and rather barren. Besides a car engine-sized machine with two openings, there was nothing else except for a console that operated the fabricator.

"We've already loaded the fabricator with omni-gel broken down from unneeded materials." Samantha explained as she turned on the device and readied it for fabrication. "This is a civilian industrial model, so it can't be used to fabricate anything beyond spare parts, but Chief Daniels was kind enough to hack the restrictions so it can also be used to create clothes."

"Wow, impressive." In Harry's time, the muggles were just starting to make waves with 3D printing and home-made industry, but to think that the Batarians were capable of producing top-grade ship components was another thing altogether.

"Please stand in the middle while I scan your measurements, sir." She instructed. As Harry moved into place, the Brit activated her glowing orange omni-tool and waved her palm over Harry's length. "That's it. I'll just program them into the device. Do you want me to pick a suitable outfit for you, or do you want to design it yourself?"

"I don't have the time to design something from scratch." Harry replied nonchalantly. He wasn't even that much into clothes anyway. "Go ahead and pick a design yourself. Keep it civilian, and conservative if possible. I don't want to come off as a wannabe officer."

"Understood, sir."

Traynor immersed herself in the device and went to work on Harry's new formal clothing. Harry waited patiently for the woman to finish and leaned his back against the wall. His eyes were naturally drawn to the specialist's slender ass. _'I wonder how many times I can slap her before she begs me to fuck her snatch.'_

After a few minutes of imagining Traynor's naked body, the specialist finally finished configuring and let the device create a new set of clothes. She took the pieces from the tray and handed the still-warm synthetic fabrics over to Harry.

"You asked for something conservative, so I took the liberty of forming a grey business suit."

"Thanks." He said, and accepted the bundle of clothes. They didn't appear remarkably different from the business suits of the twenty-first and twenty-second century. Only the collar area looked a bit weird, but all in all he liked the costume. "I'll go change in my cabin. Oh and Traynor, who do you think can help me talk to the visitors and perhaps haggle about any possible trades?"

"Hmm.. that's a difficult question. I don't know the rest of the crew very well." She thought the matter over for a few more seconds. "Pressly is a safe option. Since he's an officer, he should be able to interact more easily with the Second Fleeters and negotiate a fairer price. I'm not sure about Jacob but he's the armory officer so he should know these kinds of things. He also knows what kind of equipment we need the most."

The thought of Pressly buttering up with the Second Fleeters didn't sit too well with Harry. _'I don't want him dealing behind my back.'_ Jacob was more trustworthy, if a bit naïve at times. Hopefully he will know enough not to get ripped off. "I'll let Jacob handle the negotiations, but I'll be sure to send a copy of the negotiated agreement to everyone before we accept it. That way, if we do anything stupid, you have a chance to prevent it."

"Good idea, although it will slow down the negotiations."

They split off. Traynor returned to the bridge while Harry hastily changed in his new suit. He looked himself in the mirror and automatically straightened his back. _'Damn, I look good in this.'_ While not as intimidating as the scraggy black robes he used to wear, the suit projected a sense of.. maturity, despite his physical youth. Hopefully it would be enough to be taken seriously.

* * *

Harry and Jacob waited at the entry hatch along with a few armored soldiers if anything should go wrong. A large clank sounded out, indicating that the shuttle's own hatch mated with _Cerberus_'s passenger's hatch, forming a vacuum-proof seal between the two craft. A pair of humans stepped into the space between the inner and outer hatch and were decontaminated before being allowed into the ship's proper.

The first person that stood out was a young up-and-comer with slick black hair. He wore the traditional Alliance officer uniform so he must be leading the inspection. The second person was a middle-aged noncom armed with a rifle he kept folded for now. Harry tried to determine their ranks, but the symbols were all meaningless to him.

Jacob bumped his elbow against the captain, prompting him to remember what he must say. "As the captain of the _SSV Cerberus_, I welcome you aboard our ship. I am Captain Harry Potter, and this is my armory officer Lieutenant Jacob Taylor."

The greeting wasn't standard navy protocol, and confused the visitors for the moment. The other officer decided to respond. "Good day, captain. I am Lieutenant Eric Bergensen and this is Sergeant Hauptmann. If I may ask, your transmissions were a bit unclear about a couple of matters. Are you escaped slaves who are operating independently?"

The captain nodded. "That is true. We come from all fleets and all walks of life. Rather than joining a fleet and lose our shared bond of sacrifice, we decided to stay together and fight the Batarians in our own way."

"So you say.." The not-quite sneer from Bergensen's face made it clear that he didn't quite believe the story. "As long as you adhere to the Alliance rules of engagement, the Second Fleet will have no problems with this matter."

"We shall scrupulously adhere to the laws of man, have no worry." Harry replied, confirming that he didn't start to go pirate any time soon. "In any case, shall we head to the cargo bay? We have over 20,000 standard units of iridium occupying our entire cargo bay."

"Now that is a claim we are eager to confirm. Lead the way, captain."

The four headed to the stairway and went down a couple of flights to enter the cargo bay. The visiting lieutenant stared at the haphazardly stacked containers in a curious fashion. "The Batarians have no sense of order. If they stacked these containers properly they might be able to squeeze in twenty percent more cargo."

"Would you like us to open a container and inspect it yourself?"

"Please do."

Jacob took the lead and led them to the nearest container. After opening the standard lock, they set aside the doors and opened the darkened interior. Sergeant Hauptmann used his rifle's light scope to shine a bright light against the stacks of silvery metal bars.

"Ah… splendid." Bergensen commented, and brought up his omni-tool to scan the bars. "And it appears they are genuine refined iridium."

They let the visitors inspect a couple more containers until they were fully satisfied that this was the real deal. Harry led the visitors back to his personal quarters and had already prepared some extra seats. As everyone seated themselves, the lieutenant made an intriguing offer.

"You have an impressive amount of iridium in your cargo bay. Since you seem to be a capable man, Captain Potter, I would be willing to recommend the Second Fleet to let the _SSV Cerberus_ join the main fleet." Bergensen eyed Harry's civilian outfit and made a dismissive gesture. "You may keep your captaincy if you want. As a civilian contractor, you are not obligated to join the Navy. I suggest you consider this offer carefully. Becoming a captain of a fleet vessel is a unique opportunity."

Harry leaned back, mulling over the offer. Jacob leaned in and whispered, "A lot of civilian vessels dream of becoming part of a Remnant Fleet. The offer they put forward is quite good."

"No." Harry said out loud, surprising the Second Fleeters. "As I've stated before, the _SSV Cerberus_ is a ship which will operate independently from any fleet. I have no interest of seeking greater protection. What I want, is arms."

The visitors tried to offer a few other incentives to Harry but the wizard would have none of it. Becoming part of a fleet meant becoming part of a community. Word of his 'biotics' would quickly spread, and once they found out the truth, they'd arrest him and cut him apart in order to understand his magical abilities. The only way to prevent such an occurrence was to stay independent.

"Now that this matter is taken care of, Lieutenant Taylor, can you transmit our visitors a list of necessities we are willing to trade for?"

"Yes, sir." Jacob said, and handed out a datapad he had ready.

Lieutenant Bergensen swept over the list and murmured a few words to himself. "I see.. infantry weapons.. omni-tools.. food rations.. medical supplies.. battle armor.. reactor fuel.. I'm surprised not to see any ship upgrades on this list."

Harry shrugged. "Any frigate can slice open the _Cerberus_ like a tin can. I'd rather not risk modifying it and giving any Batarian ships clues that it is commandeered."

"So you plan to do the old distress signal trap and board the boarders?" Bergensen raised an eyebrow. "That is certainly a risky gambit to say the least. But, since we humans tend to hoard Mass Effect ships, the Batarians will likely not suspect a thing. Still, there are numerous dangers and I'd hate to see this fine vessel recaptured."

"I know the risks. Yet the _Cerberus_ is not a warship that can slug it out with a Batarian cruiser." The captain responded evenly, and kept his eyes neutral in order to convey the gravity of the situation. "The only thing we can do is to strengthen our marines. I plan to use the _Cerberus_ as a drop ship for now and raid vulnerable Batarian outposts."

"You'll have a tough time doing that. Any star system where the Batarians have settled are guarded by at least two warships."

"I'll figure something out."

The negotiation began in earnest then. Since Harry had no concept what each commodity was worth, he was glad to let Jacob do the talking. He took the responsibility seriously and raised his tone where appropriate. Harry found the entire display a little disgusting. A true united military would not let its officers haggle war materials like trading cards. The entire ritual had convinced the wizard once and for all the dire state of humanity.

One of the few sticking points was not weapons, but fuel.

"Our own fleet consumes an immense amount of fuel already. We cannot part with large amounts of it and at that low a price."

True enough, Jacob eventually had to accept an exorbitant price of fuel. Harry planned to carry extra fuel in _Cerberus_' cargo bay, but his armory officer advised him to hold off on that idea and find a better price from another fleet.

After half an hour of sometimes tense negotiations, both parties finally came to an agreement both were grudgingly happy with. After Harry sent the proposal to his other crewmembers for final inspections, he shook Bergensen's hand.

"Pleasure to do business with you, Captain Harry. I will pass your offer along to my superiors in the Second Fleet and they shall dispatch a trading vessel at another location to make the physical exchange."

"Another location?"

"We can't very well have your ship hanging about our hidden listening post, can we?" Bergensen emphatically shook his head. "No no no. We will provide you with a set of coordinates to a neighboring star system where you can wait until one of our vessel arrives."

"Alright, that's understandable." Harry agreed, though he knew the short travel will expend more fuel. Then he remembered another issue. "On more thing, Bergensen. A few of our passengers have.. declined to stay aboard the _Cerberus_. Would you consider taking them with you?"

The lieutenant didn't immediately reject the favor. "How many people are we talking about?"

"Four women and two men. The women are all Alliance service members."

"That won't be a problem then. I will inform the Second Fleet of the circumstances and I'm sure the trading vessel that will come and pick up the goods will take on the extra passengers."

"Good."

They all stood up, and Harry and Jacob escorted them back to the shuttle. Before Bergensen went through the airlock, he passed on one more remark. "Take care, captain. The universe is a harsh place, and the Batarians are everywhere. People need a little hope. I'll be sure to pass on word of your incredible escape to lift everyone's spirit. God knows we need it, as the Batarian stranglehold is growing tighter."

The visitors then formally saluted the captain. Harry, glad enough not to have fallen into a trap, made an awkward wave back. The hatch closed and let the shuttle undock. The young captain saw the shuttle turn back to the planet and activated his omni-tool. "Bridge, we're making the trade at another star system. Did you receive any coordinates?"

"We have, captain. By your order, we will prepare for FTL transit after we discharge our static electricity at the nearby gas giant."

"Wait, what? Static electricity?"

"…" The silence stretched on until Pressly finally deigned to reply. He did so with gritted teeth. "FTL travel causes starships to build up static electricity. If the charge builds up beyond a certain limit, it will fry all our systems, killing us. I suggest we discharge our built up static immediately in order to avoid any risks, sir."

"Umm.. okay." Harry responded when Jacob silently urged him to accept the suggestion. "Do what you think is best, but get us to the system the Second Fleet will make the trade."

He cut off the transmission and returned to his quarters, all the while puzzling about what he just learned. _'How in the hell can static electricity cook us alive?'_

* * *

Days later, the _SSV Cerberus_ went into alarm as they detected a new arrival in the system. The crew breathed a sigh of relief as they identified the vessel as another Batarian transport. After exchanging hails, the Second Fleet ship descended down to the moon where the _Cerberus_ also rested.

The captain who came to meet him in a vacuum suit greeted Harry with a jolly greeting and made a final, personal inspection of his iridium containers. On the other vessel, Jacob did the same, making sure that all their goods were genuine and in working order. While the Fleets normally had a stellar reputation of honesty (otherwise no one would sell them with goods that prolonged their operational lives), it didn't hurt to be careful.

Then they began the exchange. Containers were lifted out using specialized mass effect lifters that easily carried tons of weight. With the help of the moon's diminished gravity, the workers were easily able to carry the normally-heavy goods back and forth.

The _SSV Cerberus_ saw as much as a third of her iridium stores leave the cargo bay. In exchange, a couple of containers filled with a mix of supplies occupied the recently-emptied space. Products such as weapons, omni-tools and tools occupied relatively little space. Most of the volume was taken up instead by foodstuff (actual human food for once!), armor sets and fuel.

All in all, it was a decent trade, if a little pricey compared to the large amount of iridium they parted with. Yet with the Second Fleet as their only supplier, Harry went along with the trade. They needed the extra equipment, and the food would raise everyone's morale. The women would be happy as well now that they had proper fitting armor with extra space for their chest area. The wizard would be happy as well for getting an omni-tool in English and a customized set of armor with as little electronic components as possible. He heard from Jacob that such types of suits were crafted for biotic users and would not form a kinetic barrier by itself. While the lack of shields was a disconcerting thought, the freedom to cast as much magic as he wanted without frying his own armor made the trade-off worthwhile.

"Alright, we're almost done with the loading. Is there anything else we need to do?"

Jacob coughed and pointed at the array of suited men and women.

"Oh." Of course. When he became a captain, he agreed to let those determined to leave an opportunity to do just that. While he had done his best to foster shared commitment among the crew, and thereby attaching a stigma to anything that would 'betray' the sacrifice of those who died in the initial escape attempt, some people were apparently all too eager to get out. Harry had a private discussion with all six quitters and learned that they just wanted to go back to their friends and family.

Their motivations were not entirely unreasonable, so Harry had no grounds to refuse their request. Now, they all stood at the entry hatch, staring at the Second Fleet transport vessel with hopeful eyes. One of them spotted Harry, and gave him a final salute.

'_I don't want your fucking salutes you traitors.'_ Harry thought, and turned away with a scowl. Every person who left impacted his manpower significantly. With six less crewmembers, Harry couldn't field more than a squad of marines at any time. Getting more foot soldiers would soon become another priority.

* * *

After the trade successfully ended, the trading vessel lifted off from the moon and departed the system with a quiet salute. Harry had opened the containers and retrieved his privately requested goods before returning to his quarters. While he failed to figure out how to assemble the white piece of armor, the omni-tool was remarkably easy to set up due to its 'idiot-proof' design. After configuring the initial settings such as confirming the time and date, the Ariake Technologies-branded omni-tool was ready at his disposal.

The first thing Harry did was enter its memory. _'Damnit.'_ He hoped that he would encounter some historical file, or any other sort of documentation on what happened during the conquest. Instead, his omni-tool's memory was mostly empty.

An hour later, Harry's omni-tool beeped, indicating that someone was trying to contact him. Harry accepted the transmission.

"XO Pressly here. Now that we have finished securing the cargo, I think we should hold another command meeting and decide our next course of action."

'_Hmmm.. I'm pretty eager to get back into the action anyway.' _Harry mused, and looked at his newly ordered pistol. He knew he was hopeless with assault rifles, so he requested an easy-to-use pistol that he could fire one-handed but packed enough punch to penetrate most armors. Jacob had recommended the Raikou, a Mass Effect weapon manufactured in the latest stages of the Batarian Conquest. It had a reputation for being dependable and capable of taking a beating, if lacking in punch compared to heavier variants.

"Alright Pressly. Schedule the meeting in half an hour. Tell everyone to think about possible targets we should hit."

"Will do, sir."

The half hour went by quickly. Harry spent the remaining time calling up a map of the local cluster of star systems. It didn't tell him much. Besides the position of Earth, the _SSV Cerberus_ and the locations of two listening posts, it was remarkably bare. While Harry hoped the others would know of any enemy assets in the cluster, what they really needed was more intelligence. While the _Cerberus_ used to have a hard drive filled with coordinates to other Batarian bases, they were automatically wiped when the alarm went off. _'I hope the others have some good ideas.'_

A small handful of people entered a compartment converted into a meeting room. Harry already sat at the head of the table. Pressly took a seat at one side while Jacob took the other side. The remaining seats were quickly occupied by Ashley, Gabby and Traynor.

"Good of you to have come. Now, as you already know, we are here to discuss on what to do next. What I propose we do is to strike a lightly defended Batarian outpost or mining facility."

"That's.. not advisable, captain." Pressly replied a bit uneasily. "The Batarians aren't stupid, and they always have escorts patrolling systems where they are active in."

"True." Harry replied. "But I am guessing that they don't expend more resources on security than what they get out of the system, right?"

"That is.. correct. But the Batarians always insist on a minimum amount of security, and avoid systems with very little resources."

"So we have to strike a star system where we know there is something worthwhile, but not in great quantity. Something like the mining camp we recently escaped from. Didn't it only have two frigates?"

"Sir, you've got to be kidding. The _Cerberus_ isn't built to withstand combat!" Ashley insisted angrily. "Forget about hitting a system until we get a warship of our own."

"Alright. Then how about my next idea. What about faking a distress signal and luring in a Batarian ship?"

"It's too risky." Pressly concluded after mulling it over. "We only have a single squad of barely trained marines. Unless the ship that comes to help us is another transport, we will most certainly be outnumbered and outgunned. Also, if we take too long in capturing the other vessel, it might fire its guns on the _Cerberus_."

"Hmm… I don't think we should dismiss it yet." Jacob replied. "The Batarians know we hoard our ships, so we might pull it off successfully in the first few times. But the aliens will smart up quickly, though, so don't count on this tactic to work indefinitely."

Ashley didn't budge however. "We still don't have the manpower to risk a boarding. I don't want to even think about doing this until we season our crew."

"Hmm.." It was a difficult decision, but Ashley had a point. Harry rejected the proposal. "Okay, we will hold off on luring Batarian ships into a trap. That still leaves us with the question on what to do instead."

"Sir, if I may, I have a suggestion for you all." Specialist Traynor interjected. As Harry nodded her to continue, she activated her omni-tool and projected a map of the local cluster.

"As you all know, we are currently here." She pointed to a star system somewhere near the bottom of the map. "Former human colonies on the other hand are all here."

The systems on the upper side of the map lighted up in blue, with the Sol System itself shining the brightest at the upper left corner. "Now, as you all know, the Batarians normally maintain a significant garrison on all former human population centers. However, they don't always bother with systems where the System Alliance used to maintain small bases."

Samantha activated another filter which diminished most systems, leaving only a dozen or so highlighted. "These are all locations of private research bases situated in empty systems. I've asked the captain of the trading vessel to provide me with as much relevant data as he can on these systems, and while not much, there is one location which is of particular interest.

All the other systems winked out, leaving only a single shining star. "This is the Paragon System. It fell to the Batarians at the early stage of the war, but we know that the Sirta Foundation had a very extensive research base there. They were studying something big. It might be something that might have changed the course of the war, if only they were able to evacuate in time."

"What were they researching?"

"That.. is not in the data."

"Captain, I advise you not to consider Traynor's proposal. The Paragon System is right in the heart of Batarian territory. We will also expend a lot of fuel just to bridge the distance, and all for what? Half-finished research data that we do not have the resources to put into use?"

Others were also skeptical of the idea. The risks were simply too great, and the reward for all of this work was a complete mystery.

Surprisingly, when Harry prompted Gabby for an opinion, she was in support. "It's not as unpractical as you think. We captured the _Cerberus_ only recently so word probably won't spread that far up for another month. If we leave fast enough, we can still use the original transponder data and fool Batarian patrols that we are on their side. As for fuel, all bases have reserves for refueling. If we are lucky, one of the tanks might not have been ruptured yet by orbital bombardment. We don't know what we might find in the Paragon System, but it is an untouched world. Imagine what secrets we can find from the time when our civilization was still alive."

A hefty argument took place about all the risks and assumptions Gabby and Traynor has made. Harry tired of the bickering, and soon slammed his fist against the table. "I've heard enough. Out of all the possible option, Traynor's suggestion is the best solution."

"But sir, you can't seriously be thinking about-"

Harry held up his hand. "Look, when we started all of this, we vowed to turn back the tide and work to defeat the Batarians. We won't get there by bleeding the Batarians one ship or outpost at a time. They are too numerous for us to succeed in a war of attrition. Let the Fleets take care of that. What we should do instead is to take risks the other humans don't dare to take, because we are the only ones who have the courage to do what is necessary to put humanity first."

There were a few complaints, and Pressly growled throughout the rest of the meeting, but everyone soon fell in line. Harry's word was law, and the crew prepared the _Cerberus_ to make a long series of FTL transits right into Batarian territory. The first step to reverse humanity's fortune began as soon as Pressly engaged the FTL.

'_It's on.'_

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


	11. I: The Sirta Legacy

October 8, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** No comment.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_The Sirta Legacy_

* * *

The _SSV Cerberus_ journeyed through the blue aurora of FTL travel, wary of danger but heading steadily closer to it. The 'north' or coreward side of the local cluster of star systems that included the Sol System was undisputedly Batarian territory. Yet Captain Harry was determined to raid the lost secrets of a race in decline, so the crew had no choice but to go along and prepare for the worst.

The forty day journey stressed everyone's nerves, especially as the _Cerberus_ stopped in a system along the way in order to discharge the static electricity built up from FTL travel. It was always a risk to stay in a star system long enough for the _Cerberus_ to dump her charge into a gas giant. Only once did they have the misfortune of appearing in a Batarian garrison system.

The Batarian frigate that approached the _Cerberus_ hailed the transport. Harry, tense on his seat, had to rely on Traynor's computer skills to fake a response as the late Batarian captain of this vessel. After a three-minute conversation where Traynor bluffed and lied as if her life depended on it (and it did), the frigate was satisfied, and turned away, unknowingly sparing the humans.

"We got lucky this time." Samantha said, and collapsed on her seat. "They didn't know the _Varren's Pack_ is captured yet. If we make good speed we might still be able to outrun the news, though I'd rather avoid Batarian-occupied systems altogether."

Navigator Pressly shook his head at that. "There's not much chance of that. The deeper we travel into Batarian territory, the more we encounter those four-eyed bastards."

Indeed, the executive officer was right. As the _Cerberus_ hopped from star system to star system, they met a handful of patrols, and each time they barely convinced the menacing Batarian warships that the _Cerberus_ was one of them. This constant balancing act wore on the crew, and made them doubt the wisdom of this plan. What was so important in the Paragon System that they had to risk their lives and freedom time and time again?

The worst thing about this expedition was that no one knew exactly what they were after. What did the Sirta Foundation research outpost study, exactly? A laser weapon? Energy shielding? Active cloaking? Or maybe something less exciting, such as a software update. The uncertainties concerning the rewards gnawed upon everyone, including Harry himself.

He busied himself by making his own preparations for the mission. Jacob helped a lot in this regard. The former Corsair and now Harry's armory officer did an excellent job instructing Harry. First, he taught the boy how to dismantle the light armor and put it on. While it was a little awkward to walk around with all that extra weight and bulk, Harry figured he needed all the extra protection he could get.

Next, Jacob taught him how to use his Raikou pistol properly. Having never bothered to use muggle armaments, Harry was fascinated how big of a deal Jacob treated the gun. Harry learned how to take it apart, clean the most essential components, and put it back together in optimal working condition. He received a short explanation on what each component did (though the clueless wizard quickly got lost), and finally allowed the firearms novice to practice shooting.

His aim could use a little work. Harry planned to use his gun one-handed, leaving his other limb free to throw magic, but that made it impossible for him to land a proper hit. The weight of the pistol was a bit hefty and as soon as Harry fired a shot, the recoil threw off him aim. If he held the handgun in a sturdier two-handed grip as Jacob had taught him, he might have more success, but he didn't plan to rely on it too much. _'My magic is my real weapon.'_

Besides training with modern muggle gadgets, Harry also spent some time figuring out his magic. He gave up on meditation entirely, seeing that he was just too angry and disturbed to achieve inner peace.

Instead, he brute-forced his way to enlightenment by slinging things around in an empty compartment. Each day he vented his frustration at the metal props he stuffed the room with. Practically the only magic he could cast effectively was based on simple, force-based kinetic energy. He could attract objects with _Accio_ and repel them with a wide-area _Reducto_. If he narrowed the latter spell down to a fingertip he sometimes approached the destructive potential of the basic but powerful curse.

As for protection, he found out he could slow down projectiles with _Aresto Momentum_, though not very much at the moment due to his lack of practice with that particular spell. _Protego_ offered more substantial protection, but Harry had to cast it manually in order to bring up the shield. Kinetic barriers worked much easier in comparison, protecting the wearer's body from any angle. However, unlike _Protego_, muggle shields shorted out after it absorbed too much damage, while Harry could maintain a _Protego_ at a much higher damage tolerance, though he still couldn't maintain it for more than five seconds due to the strain on his limbs.

That was the most serious problem affecting his magic so far. Without the aid of a wand, Harry had to convert raw magic into precise spells by himself. After a century of living and fighting, Harry's willpower was not to be taken lightly. Yet even with that advantage, his arms always failed him. Letting the magic course through his bones and muscles was a painful and unpleasant affair that grew the longer Harry kept the spigot open. Only by keeping his magic confined to short, weak bursts was he able to cast continuously.

"Merlin damnit.. magic isn't meant to be cast without a focus."

This caused him to reach back in his memory, trying to dig up any relevant detail about the origin of magic that had any relevance to wandless casting. In his long years, he raided the occasional library and gathered a mighty collection of books. Yet he always seemed to spend more time with his unwilling captives than study crumbling tomes written in severely outdated languages. _'I'm not Hermione.'_ And it showed, as Harry was left as clueless as before.

'_I've only got a couple of options here. I can just give up on wand magic for now and try to develop my wandless magic through trial and error. I can also try to find a substitute for a wand. They're just pieces of wood with a magical reagent in the middle. Still, wood doesn't appear to be used anymore in this age, and finding a magical reagent is practically impossible unless…'_

Unless he used a piece of his own body.

'_That's fucking nasty, even for me.'_ Harry cast the idea aside, not wanting to contemplate cutting a strip of flesh or bone from his body to use as a wand core. There wasn't even any guarantee that it might work.

Thus, resigned to casting wandless magic until he somehow tracked down his lost Hallows, Harry went to work practicing his wandless precision.

* * *

In another section of the ship, a trio of officers gathered in private. Ashley and Jacob saluted Pressly and sat down on the chairs Pressly had ready in his own office. He had already prepared his guests' favorite drinks, coffee for Jacob and genuine human whiskey for Ashley.

"Ah, that's the stuff." The security officer burped as she took a swig.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" Jacob asked with a worried expression. "The last thing we need is another uncontrolled outburst."

"Just leave it alone, Jacob. Getting those stupid Neanderthals to understand squad tactics is hell. If Harry hadn't switched our appointments, I'd be spending my days surrounded by guns."

"Hey, my job isn't a pleasant one either. Some of the crewmen are constantly trying to filch food and weapons from the cargo containers. I have to keep track of everything that comes in and out and go after the ones who have more than they ought to. Most of the men still act like they are back in the mining camp and tend to hoard as much as they can."

Pressly concurred. "That's our most pressing concern right now. While the female crewmembers are all well-behaved Alliance members, the men have no shred of discipline in their bones. They only respect strength."

This was a sore point for the executive officer. As someone who languished in the camp much longer than most of the miners, they gave him very little respect. The only person they paid any mind to was Captain Potter. Pressly scowled as his face came up in his mind. That ignorant civilian was way over his head. While Pressly was just the XO, he was effectively the real captain who kept the ship together. Yet Captain Potter always stole the spotlight and gave very little recognition to his hardworking subordinates.

"Captain Potter is a farce, a failure who should not be bearing the title of captain in the first place. I'm sure he will lead us into disaster eventually, if not this very mission."

Both of his guests had heard this story many times before. "I don't disagree with you, Pressly." Jacob said. "But we are all in this together. We should work hard to compensate Harry's faults and keep as much of our men alive if possible."

"I'm breaking my back covering for that little shit!" Ashley yelled, and the others had to shush her to prevent her voice from being heard outside of the hatch. "My whole squad is a bunch of thugs, and Harry is the biggest one of all. We may claim to be an Alliance outfit in name, but we are all just pirates who haven't raided a human ship yet."

Jacob felt more and more uncomfortable by the talk he heard so far. "I think you should both back down a moment and take a breath. This is dangerous talk and there are no grounds for mutiny yet. Remember, you had a chance to leave this ship. If you hated Harry so much, you could have taken that offer."

"I'm not going to abandon my fellow sisters to that skunk. The women on this ship need someone to stand up to the pigs and keep their grubby hands off of them."

"About that…" Jacob hesitated a little. "I've been observing the women discretely. Some of them were kept in the camp for years, and were used by.. many men. The most fragile women have already left, thankfully, but not all of them are normal. There's one woman in particular that I'm worried about… Chief Engineer Daniels."

"Gabby? But she was a new arrival!" Ashley exclaimed. "When I was at that lodge, I only heard she had only one visitor... who was it again?"

"..Captain Harry."

A tense silence emerged as Jacob's conflicted face turned away from his two companions.

"Why… that… little.. He can't do this to us!" Ashley yelled, and rose to her feet. Jacob reacted quickly and forcefully pulled her down.

"Don't do anything rash! We don't have nearly the support we need to overthrow the captain."

"B-But this is a travesty! What if Harry is continuing to harass Gabby even now? We have to save her!"

Jacob shook his head. "I've spoken to Gabrielle a number of times. She avoids and outright denies that Harry is doing anything to her. Without any evidence, we can't do anything about it. The crew will probably think we're making the incident up in order to get rid of Harry."

"As much as I understand your anger, Jacob is right." Pressly responded gently. "I haven't noticed it myself, but if it is true that Harry has taken advantage of Engineer Daniels and is continuing to do it even now, then we have to build up a case. We'll have to observe them together and record as much as we can. Once we have positive proof that Harry is a fiend, we can plan our next moves. But until then, we act ignorant."

Both of the younger officers agreed to Pressly's plan, though Ashley wanted nothing more than to pummel Harry's face. Only the fact that she respected Pressly and the Alliance made her stay her hand, for now.

* * *

The days slowly trickled past as their destination grew nearer. Having dodged about half-a-dozen Batarian patrols, the _SSV Cerberus_ finally emerged unscathed from the long journey into Batarian space. Everyone on the bridge sat nervously as Samantha Traynor worked to get her sensors up right away.

"No artificial heat signatures detected. No transponders detected."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. While there may still be ships hidden behind planets or asteroids, for now it didn't appear the Paragon system was occupied. Harry stared at the cool blue star in the center of the solar system. _'It looks just like the star I looked up to when I was back on the asteroid.'_ He shivered a little. He did not enjoy his time at the slave camp. _'The sooner we get out of here, the better.'_

"Are there any signs of human occupation?" Pressly asked as he eased off the thrusters, letting the transport coast through space on a ballistic trajectory.

"None so far sir. I haven't detected any communication signal, so we'll have to scan the planets one by one."

There were three rock-like planets, and that didn't even include the numerous moons. Pressly called up a sheet that displayed information on all the planets. "Hmm.. that's curious. The planet of Gaul is a garden world. I bet that might have attracted the Sirta Foundation in the first place. Specialist Traynor, scan that planet first."

"Will do, sir, but without probes it will take hours."

"Do what you can."

As Pressly brought the ship closer to Gaul, Traynor worked furiously turning _Cerberus_' scanners to the surface of the planet, searching for any signs of artificial life. Scanning an entire planet was an intensive task that strained the vessel's civilian-grade computers to the limit. Working with rudimentary sensors didn't help Samantha's job either.

"Sirs, my search will likely take a day. There is no need to be at the bridge all the time."

"Alright. I'll go take a break." Harry responded, and sat up from his chair and headed towards the hatch. "Notify me as soon as you spot anything critical."

Harry went back to his cabin and inspected his gear one more time. While he hadn't informed anyone that he would be going down with the security team, he wanted to see more of human civilization. How had humanity lived before the conquest? What was their technology like? What data archives could he raid, and what kind of information would they contain? Having been cooped up in a Batarian mining camp and transport vessel for much of his stay in this universe, the displaced wizard was eager to learn more about his own race. He could worry about the cruel and savage Batarians afterwards.

'_Besides their four eyes and numerous nostrils, the Batarians don't look so different from human. In fact, they're barely alien at all. Could it be.. that both races are related?'_

That was a disturbing thought. Immediately, several scenarios came to mind from the muggle movies he had sometimes viewed when he wanted to take a break. Images of gods or other aliens manipulating the galaxy for their own amusement flipped past. _'If something like magic can exist, surely something else must be working behind the scenes.'_

But this was all speculation, and Harry had no time to waste on such drivel. He assembled and disassembled his pistol for the umpteenth time until he grew bored. The boy considered calling Gabby to his quarters for a quickie but promptly discarded it as another unnecessary distraction. He had no idea what he would encounter down on the surface of Erda.

'_I might as well take a nap.'_

Several uneventful hours passed before an alert chimed in Harry's quarters, waking Harry up. He activated his omni-tool and muttered, "What's going on? Have you found the base?"

"Affirmative, sir." Traynor's smooth and attractive voice spoke out. "I've detected a partially collapsed cave mouth with definite signs of human construction."

'_Merlin slap me now, because I want to fuck her pretty posh mouth right this instant._' Taking care not to make too much noise, Harry surreptitiously lowered one of his arms and zipped down his pants. He soon grasped his stiffening organ and began to stroke at a leisurely pace. "Continue, Traynor. I want to hear details."

"Erm.. I'm still scanning the local area. It's located near the equator on a peninsula along the supercontinent. Despite the garden-like state, the air of Erda is toxic to humans, so any squad Ashley deploys will go in with vacuum gear."

Harry's rod had painfully grown to full size by now. The boy spat on his palm a few times to lubricate the throbbing erection.

"Sir, are you sick?" Samantha asked with concern after hearing Harry spit through the comm channel.

"No, everything's fine. You just woke me up so I'm dealing with a dry mouth. Anyway, continue your report, please. What about the human base?"

"Well, most of it is underground by my estimates." The woman continued, oblivious to Harry's speeding breaths. "The soil above is too thick for our meager scanners to penetrate. From the size of the cave mouth it appears to be of substantial size, perhaps even going on for a kilometer. This must have been an interesting research outpost to warrant a base this big."

"I'm sure." Harry said, almost moaning as Samantha's voice brought him close to the edge. "So what is the deployment plan?"

"Well, since we lack shuttles, we will have to land the _Cerberus_ on a clear patch of ground. I've already identified a suitable landing site just in front of the entrance. Bases such as these usually have underground hangars but I'm unable to locate any."

"That's okay!"

"Excuse me?"

Harry definitely needed to change his sheets before he left. "I meant that I don't mind if you can't find out more information about the research base. You've already done quite a lot for me. Good job."

"I aim to please, sir." She said, and cut off the channel

'_Indeed you do.'_ The wizard thought with a smirk, and began to take a quick shower before he suited up.

* * *

Pressly did an adequate job in landing the lumbering beast through the atmosphere and on the surface of the planet. While the big and heavy transport had no hope of landing on an Earth-like planet safely, Erda's gravity was just a mere 0.6 g, cutting back on numerous complications that might otherwise arrive. Still, the navigator wasn't an expert pilot by any means and the descent was very rocky. Everyone on the ship thanked their gods as they landed on the planet without further incident.

A small walkway extended from the outer airlock, which was several stories above the ground. As soon as the path was safe, the airlock opened to reveal five armored figures. A white-and-pink woman took the lead, and aimed her rifle at every direction before she was satisfied.

"Alright, head downwards and form up like I taught you. Go go go!"

The group thundered down the walkway and reached the rough grassy soil of the planet. Three black-suited trainees then went down on their knees and surveyed the virgin landscape from their assigned position. The only person who didn't go along was the white-suited captain. He tapped his foot impatiently.

"Can we get a move on? There's hardly any life around."

Ashley turned around and roughly poked Harry's armored chest. "Don't tell me how to do my job! We know nothing about this place, so we're taking every precaution."

"Fine, but don't take too long."

After a few more growls, Ashley resumed her job, and slowly ordered her squad to push forward and towards the mouth of the massive cave that housed the corporate facility. Three more trainee marines were left behind on the _Cerberus_, to guard against any surprise attacks. To Ashley, three rookies hardly constituted a proper guard force but they were short on manpower. _'Hopefully, this stupid trip will be worth it. God, I just want to turn my rifle and blast Harry's face.'_

It frustrated her that a rapist was walking right behind her oogling her ass or something. When she turned around a few times, pretending to sweep the flanks, she was unable to discern anything from Harry's black tinted faceplate.

Not knowing whether Harry had his mind on the mission or on her body, Ashley simply upped her speed and led the squad right at the entrance of the fallen base. Everyone stopped and admired the ruins.

To Harry, to call it a ruin would be stretching it. While the white blocky wall had obviously aged a lot, they were in remarkably good shape. Only a few pockmarks and other signs of battle further marred the visage. The wizard took a particular interest studying the half-faded markings. Besides a few nonsensical numbers and codes, he was able to discern a large sign.

SIRTA FOUNDATION – HARVESTING THE TREES OF KNOWLEDGE

"Huh. What a weird slogan. Do any of you know what the Sirta Foundation did?"

None of them knew very much. Only Traynor spoke in the comm link. _"The Sirta Foundation used to be a major corporation developing high-quality defensive solutions such as armor and omni-tools. They were also heavy in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Oh, and just a reminder sir, as soon as you enter inside, you'll lose radio contact with the Cerberus. Your omni-tool's transmitters aren't strong enough to penetrate the thick walls."_

"Noted. Thanks for the warning." Harry unholstered his pistol and readied it in his hand. "Alright Ashley, proceed inside."

The squad moved forwards towards the entrance and found it to be blown apart. The foyer inside was dark, and devoid of life. Everyone activated the flashlights attached to their weapons and scanned the area with baited breath. They encountered nothing but broken glass, upturned chairs and centuries of decay.

"The foyer is clear." Ashley reported, and moved towards the reception desk and tried to get the computers to work. "Damn, the power's dead. We have to move on in the dark."

Past the entry hall were dozens of different corridors snaking in every direction. They all led to empty office stalls or lab areas. Most of it appeared trashed, either by explosives or by.. something else. The few datapads that still held power contained little information. _'Just what were all these scientists doing here?'_

In two hours, they scoured the entire base, only to find out that there was an entirely different sprawling complex underneath. After taking a short break, they descended and continued to explore the halls in complete dark and silence. Despite the obvious signs of combat, they found no bodies at all. It irked Harry for some reason.

"Why haven't we found any corpses? Even if they decomposed by now, there should still be clothes or armor."

"Beats me." Ashley shrugged. "From what I can gather so far, the Batarians assaulted the base head-on instead of bombarding it from space. That suggests that they came here to capture and enslave the people working here."

It was an adequate explanation, but why would the Batarians bring the bodies with them as well? It made no sense.

"Hey, I found something." One of the trainees said, and pointed to a stack of.. papers. On closer inspection, they revealed themselves to be children's drawings. "Hey, there's something written on the other side."

That definitely attracted Harry's interest. He spread the three sheets on the table and puzzled out their order. The script was almost illegible due to the horrible handwriting. _'Whoever wrote this probably only used keyboards.'_

"I can't read this stuff.." Ashley muttered as he eyed the scribbles suspiciously.

Harry, who had a decent amount of experience deciphering ancient tomes found it to be a trivial problem. "Keep this lighted. I'll try to scan it with my omni-tool."

After taking a few images, the wizard began to read.

"_The aliens are coming. I never believed the stories but there are actually sentient, spacefaring life forms! If they weren't killing us I'd be whooping in joy knowing that we are not alone in the universe. Our security personnel can't stand up to these black monsters. Nothing can hurt them except for heavy explosives. Oh god, oh god, I'm going to die here, I know it. They're methodically cutting down any opposition while penetrating deeper into the compound. It is only a matter of time before they reach the reactor and shut it down, destroying all our experiments and preventing the folks back home from finding out what we have been working on for fifteen years. If you can read this, then I hope you're human. There is a storage compartment that runs off geothermal energy further down this corridor. I stowed away a sample of our most advanced prototype, along with a handful of storage devices that contains the specifications. Take it, and bring it back to Earth. If these aliens are as tough as they seem, our race will stand no chance against them unless we gather every advantage. Signed, Marco Rubini."_

After reading the message out loud, Harry set down the papers. He felt.. solemn, for some reason. Whoever wrote those notes knew he was going to die. Rather than panic or take away his life, he spent his last moments of life passing on instructions to any humans that returned. Too bad Harry and his crew arrived two centuries too late to help Earth fend off the conquerors.

"Well, looks like our main goal is up ahead. Williams, please proceed."

"It could be a trap, sir."

"I highly doubt it. Now move already."

They slowly stepped forward, sweeping their beams of light at each passing branch that led to more offices and lab spaces. Some of the walls were transparent, revealing a lot of sensitive but decayed equipment. Harry found the sight to be sad. Once, this base was a prosperous hive of human activity. Now, all that remained were dormant machines and rotting electronics.

"There must be an underground breach somewhere that lets in moisture." Ashley explained. "While electronics at this time were built to last, they can't withstand corrosion forever. I'd guess that even if we scour the entire base, we'd find very little that is still operable. The best we can do is scrap the most high-grade devices into rare earth metals and omni-gel."

"We didn't come all the way here for scrap. There's got to be some research we can recover. It sounds like it's something big enough to affect the war."

"If that was true, then the Systems Alliance would have returned and retrieved the research material."

"Something could have happened along the way." Harry replied, and before he could speak anything further, a huge black shadow momentarily blocked his vision.

"AAAAAHHHH!" A trainee screamed out, and fired his rifle in every direction.

"Shit!" Ashley cursed and knocked the rifle from the berserking man's hands. She turned her rifle downwards and saw an alien creature biting the man's leg. "It's a varren! Careful!"

"JUST GET IT OFF ME!"

Before Ashley shot out a burst that risked hitting the injured man, Harry released a forceful _Reducto_ that bludgeoned the Varren loose and back into the darkness. Ashley quickly turned around and spotted the confused dog-like creature.

"Take this!" She shouted, and sprayed her rifle full auto, littering the reptilian alien creature with slugs. The monster made a painful howl as it went down, prompting other creatures to howl in return.

"Shit shit shit! More varren are coming! Get back-to-back and ready to fire! Cover is useless against varrens."

A whole pack of the creatures soon fell upon them from all sides. Ashley poured all of her fire at the heaviest concentration and juggled her heat between her rifle and pistol. The other marines were firing upon the varrens that came howling from the flanks. Harry tended to the wounded trainee who sported a nasty bite wound that had gone straight through the armor like paper. _'How sharp are the teeth of these varrens?'_

When the wave of aliens kept increasing, Harry was forced to abandon his comrade and take up his rifle to fire wildly into the mob. Half a minute of frantic combat passed as the varrens kept coming closer. Another marine suffered a bite wound through the torso, and Ashley quickly tried to compensate but there were simply too much.

"_Reducto! Aresto momentum! Protego!"_

Unconcerned with keeping his strange abilities hidden, Harry had abandoned the rifle altogether and cast numerous spells in rapid succession, stopping the onslaught of varrens just enough for his squad to kill them by the dozens. Eventually, the deaths were so severe that the remaining survivors scurried back the other way and into the darkness.

"Keep up your toes, soldiers! They might be coming back with their friends."

As two of their men rolled on the floor in pain, nothing else happened. Ashley lowered her rifle and reluctantly tended to the wounded, using her omni-tool to patch up the holes in their armor and cloth their wounds. "You'll make it, soldiers. The wounds aren't fatal, though you'll get a nasty infection from them."

With two out of five out of action, they had a difficult choice to make. "Let's continue." Harry ordered, his eyes steeling for any protest from Ashley. "We haven't finished our mission."

"And let these men behind?"

"They can still crouch and shoot. We've already killed so many varrens that they can fend of the remaining survivors if they get back."

That didn't sit well with Ashley, but Harry was adamant about finding treasure. Harry, Ashley and a remaining trainee then reluctantly moved on, leaving the two wounded behind with nothing but empty words.

Luckily, they didn't encounter any further resistance. At the very end of the hall was a large armored hatch. "I bet this is the storage room. Is there any way we can open it?"

They studied the hatch for a minute, trying out its dead opening mechanism only to achieve no result. All of the controls were dead or locked out. Eventually, Ashley setup a small explosive and detonated it, destroying the lock.

"Come, help me push it."

They all leaned against the large vault-like hatch and pushed their entire weight against it. After some initial resistance, the metal barrier gave way, and turned inward, revealing the storage room. It looked much like a bank vault area, only more sterile. Most of the lockers were inactive or empty, but one prominent container still blinked in green.

"It could be a trap." Ashley warned Harry as he drew closer to the blinking thing. Not heeding Ashley's warning, he brushed a hand over the holographic thing, causing the locker to unfold and open.

Four canisters lay within, all plain white except for a couple of unimportant markings. There were a few chips next to them that probably stored the research data. One final drawing lay within. Harry removed it and studied at the crude crayon markings. It looked like a… cemetery. A father and a child stood in front of one of them. The most remarkable feature of the drawing was the.. person who floated above an open grave, greeting the man and child. It was a touching image.

Harry turned over the page, and read the scrawls. "_For my dearest Amanda, a gift that will make mama alive…_"

He swept his eyes over the rest of the message, eagerly devouring the explanation. When he finally finished reading, he set it down and laughed. "This.. this is more than I had ever hoped for! We hit the jackpot!"

As Ashley puzzled over Harry's reaction, the boy greedily snatched all the canisters. "Sir?"

"Hold this!" Harry ordered, handing each of his remaining companions a canister while he took two himself. After stowing the chips and the drawings in a compartment in his armor, he left the storage room and doubled back into the corridors.

"Sir! Wait! It's dangerous!"

"It doesn't matter! This will change everything!"

Harry almost sprinted back to the site where the two wounded soldiers were left behind. As soon as he reached them, he stopped and put down the canisters. He then grasped the wounded leg of a trainee and forcefully disengaged the locking mechanism, letting the damaged leg piece fall to the cold metal floor.

"W-W-What are you doing, captain?"

"Testing something out, now hold still!"

Making sure the bite wound was completely exposed, Harry then turned back to the canister and tried to figure out how to open it. _'Ah, here.'_ He pressed something that caused a steam of cold gas to escape. The boy slowly removed the lid and saw the prize within, an otherwise plain grey gel. Harry quickly scooped up a handful and then without any propriety slapped it against the trainee's wounded leg, causing him to howl in agony.

"Are you crazy Harry? What are you doing!" Ashley barked, and aimed her rifle at the seemingly bad boy.

Ignoring the threat, Harry instead focused all his attention on the wound. As soon as the substance touched organic material, it went to work, seeping right inside the wound. Just seconds later the wound began to heal before his eyes. The trainee cut off his screams abruptly as he felt the pain lessen substantially.

"What.. is happening?"

Even Ashley couldn't deny what had happened, and lowered her rifle in astonishment. "Harry.. what is that stuff you just pulled out?"

Harry chuckled darkly as he revealed the name of the invention. "Medi-gel."

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


	12. I: The Revolving Stars

October 9, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** I pre-ordered XCOM Enemy Unknown and today it's come out! In North America! T.T I have to wait three more days until it's released in Europe. Bah. Well I'll busy myself with the old X-COM game in the meantime.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_The Revolving Stars_

* * *

All the attention on Gabby made her uncomfortable. She understood the gravity of the situation and the importance of her report. While she was just an engineer, she alone out of all the crew had the best chance to understand the excruciatingly complex research notes. They had no doctor or nurse on hand to decipher the complex medical jargon, so the engineer skipped most of the process and focused on the results and conclusions.

What little she understood had changed her world completely. While she half-heartedly supported Harry's expedition into Batarian territory in the hopes that it might.. end her suffering, she had never expected to find such a tremendous discovery.

The entire command of the _SSV Cerberus_ stared at her with mixed expressions. Captain Harry's gaze disturbed her the most. Gabby felt the lust and possessiveness of his eyes as they undressed her down to the bone. It paralyzed her, making her utterly helpless against his advances. The engineer hated that, hated the misery the captain continued to pile on her. Yet.. if she revealed Harry's crimes right this instant, she was sure Ashley and Jacob could subdue him before he engaged his biotics.

Just one word. It would take so little to bring her tormentor down.

She opened her mouth, and released a sound.

She couldn't.

'_Why can't I…?'_

Because Harry was necessary. Despite all his faults, all his destructive urges, Gabby felt that she was part of something amazing. Escaping from the prison camp and discovering important lost technology were amazing feats. What if Harry was destined for greatness? What if.. his words were rang true, and that mankind needed to be united in order to free itself from the Batarians?

There was so much at stake. As an Alliance specialist, Gabby was well acquainted with the difficult personalities that ruled the Fifth Fleet. They could be as vicious and savage against both the Batarians and themselves when they fought over resources and promotions. Her naiveté had been quickly shattered after her first year of service. No one was innocent.

She had trouble accepting this rationalization. Was it really because Harry produced results that she hesitated in exposing him? It hurt her mind to think about this dilemma. With pained eyes she abruptly averted her eyes away, and stared at her datapad instead. With a deep breath, she began her report.

"I've been invited by Captain Potter to provide a preliminary report on medi-gel. I haven't experimented on the samples myself, and I recommend we keep them in quarantine until a qualified medical doctor can examine them in a controlled environment."

"That stuff works even after 200 years in cold storage! I'd say we look at duplicating this stuff immediately." Ashley argued strongly. "We're sitting on gold here. With this medi-gel, we can drastically reduce our casualties."

Jacob nodded, but also had a different point to make. "We shouldn't keep the medi-gel to ourselves. As Chief Daniels has stated, we lack qualified personnel. Instead, we should immediately hand this discovery over to a fleet so that they can study it and duplicate it for the other fleets."

"That is quite naïve, Jacob." Pressly responded with a frown. "I'm not sure the fleet who receives all the research materials will be so free in handing out medi-gel, or revealing to others how they can produce it themselves. More likely than not, the Second Fleet or whoever we choose to gift the research will monopolize the invention as long as they can, and charge exorbitant barter in exchange."

Specialist Traynor looked indignant. "Would any fleet actually dare to let their greed trump the common good? That kind of division is what aided in the destruction of the Systems Alliance. We should make copies of the research and hand them out with samples to all the fleets."

"That's actually what I'm thinking about myself." Harry said, surprising some of the people in the meeting room. "There's no we can trust a single fleet not to act selfishly. It's what I would do."

"But.. you won't?" Jacob asked skeptically. He was sure Harry would insist milking out their discovery to the fullest, and had been ready to argue against that argument.

"The _Cerberus_ is a slow, fat transport. Any Alliance frigate can overpower us and steal the medi-gel for themselves. A discovery this big is too tempting to play fair. Trust me, I have a lot of experience with that kind of behavior."

An awkward silence passed before someone asked what Harry planned to do.

"Let's wait until Gabby finished her report. Can you please continue?"

"Yes sir." The engineer stammered out. "Medi-gel has actually been in development for 50 years, but it really got steam in the last 20 years after the Sirta Foundation expanded the research outpost on Erda into a major base. The initial scientists on the medi-gel project had discovered that the native wildlife of Erda displayed unusual healing properties, that, while not as strong as the prototype we have in our possession, is still unique."

The woman switched on a projector and it displayed archived footage of injured buffalo-like animals healing light cuts in a matter of minutes. "After extensive study, the xenobiologists stationed on the planet discovered that the healing is not endemic to the animals themselves, but is instead produced by small microbes – bacteria – which appear to have a symbiotic relationship with the animals."

"You mean.. that grey goop.. is just a bunch of germs?"

"In essence." That made a few people disgusted. "However, medi-gel in its pure form is not disease-prone. The researchers spent all those years trying to achieve two major objectives. First, while they could extract the bacteria from the animals, they almost always died in a matter of days. Second, the bacteria in their native form are highly toxic to human and other life forms from Earth. They resorted to extensive genetic modification in order to produce new strains that increased longevity in storage while making it usable on humans."

"My trainees are doing fine after being treated by that stuff, so the scientists succeeded, right?"

"Partially, Lieutenant Williams. In truth, they haven't completely solved the longevity problem yet. Outside of their containers, they can last for approximately a week before they decay. It's for this reason that the Sirta Foundation didn't reveal the invention. They wanted more time to tackle that problem."

"The only problem now is that the Sirta Foundation doesn't exist anymore." Harry remarked. "We don't have the resources to find a solution for this problem either. Do the notes have any other solution?"

"Well, the Foundation has designed a series of modules that will sustain the medi-gel and keep them alive for an indefinite period as long as they are supplied with power and nutrients. The modules don't have to be big. There are a few miniature designs in the notes that can be attached to armor as an add-on. Soldiers can then easily deploy the medi-gel either internally through their suits or externally through an exit port from their wrists."

"How much healing potential could each soldier carry in those modules?"

"Not much. It takes a lot of medi-gel to heal one grievous wound. However, it's still much more effective than a first-aid kit of an equivalent size."

"I see. Despite the limitations, medi-gel will be a godsend for any boots on the ground. Medical facilities will also have a field day with this."

"I'm not quite sure, sir." Gabby responded carefully. "Medi-gel will knit wounds and in some cases even broken bones, but it cannot cure diseases or destroy viruses. There are limits to what the bacteria can do."

"Still, what we have is impressive enough. How will we pass this on to the rest of humanity?"

Everyone turned to Harry for this. "The best thing we can do is make sure all the fleets gain the capability to produce this for themselves. I plan to personally get into contact with each of the five Remnant fleets and trade them the medi-gel."

"That might work the first two times, but by then all the other fleets will outrun you." Pressly said pessimistically. "We also don't know how to contact three of the fleets."

"We'll bargain hard to the first fleet we meet. They probably know how to get in touch with the rest of the Alliance. After we negotiate a deal, we'll give them the research data along with a tiny sample of medi-gel. It will take them weeks if not months before they can figure out how to reproduce the stuff. This way, even if the Fleeters try to sell the research data to another fleet with a fast ship before we arrive, they can't provide a sample. Only we possess the largest quantity of medi-gel in existence right now."

"That's.. quite devious of you." Traynor complimented Harry, causing him to beam a little. "I can see how that will work. Without a sufficiently-sized sample, any genomics lab will have to spend a lot of time growing and mutating the medi-gel from scratch. I think it can work."

"So is that our plan?" Ashley said bitterly. "We try to gouge each fleet we come into contact with and make them beg for our medi-gel?"

Harry frowned at her tone. "I'm not planning to piss the fleets off. If we want to continue to operate independently, we can't afford bad blood between us and them. I'll just ask for a couple of gifts, a donation if you will. Additional crewmembers, more supplies, maybe some ship upgrades if they are feeling generous. If I start knocking on their doors demanding a frigate in exchange for the medi-gel, they'd probably board us and steal what they want regardless of the consequences."

That was a much more reasonable proposal, and eventually everyone agreed with Harry's position.

"We're not out of the woods yet, though." Pressly announced. "We are still deep into Batarian territory with half our fuel tanks empty. Our scouts haven't managed to find the research base's hangar or refueling depot either. What's more, when we turn back and head back to the outskirts of Batarian territory, word of _Cerberus'_ capture will have likely made the rounds."

This was an uncomfortable truth that had the very real risk of undoing everything they accomplished so far. Pressly eyed everyone with a heavy expression. "The risks in our return route will be extremely high. While there is less chance of encountering a Batarian ship in the frontier, it is almost certain that they will see through our ruse."

"But.. there's no other way, is there sir? We have to chance it, and head back to the Second Fleet's listening post."

"As much as I dislike this option, it's the only one we have, short of hiding and waiting."

The possibility that this mission would all come to naught weighed heavily on everyone. Medi-gel was a wonderful invention, but if they were captured by the Batarians, they might take the invention for themselves and use it to improve their own forces. That could never be allowed to happen.

When the meeting broke up, Harry went back to his quarters, thinking. The absence of fuel was throwing a big wrench in his plan. If they met any setback on the way to the Second Fleet listening post, chances were great that fuel would be expended trying to flee or hide. If they ever ran low before even getting into spitting distance of allied elements.. well, the image wasn't pretty.

'_I took this risk knowing this might happen.'_

At times like these, he wished he wasn't such a compulsive gambler. Sure, taking risks had delivered big payouts from time to time. Yet in other times, he often came close to death or capture, and had to escape by the skin of his teeth. Spending forty or more days constantly worrying about Batarian patrols was not a healthy activity. Everyone's morale would also plummet pretty soon once they hear how precarious their captain led them to this point.

This waiting game could not continue indefinitely. His luck so far was great but that might not hold up anymore. Harry had to prepare for the worst, and meet the odds head-on.

The wizard collapsed on his bed, thinking up possibilities. The constant monotony of FTL travel had given him quite a bit of time to study up on the basics of space travel. Enough to know that the _Cerberus_ ran on fuel for both in-system and FTL travel. As a transport vessel, she was slow, but efficient, sacrificing speed and agility to minimize cost.

'_The _Cerberus_ used to be a Batarian vessel. That means that it is a representative sample of their technology. If their entire economy runs on these kinds of haulers, then that means that they have to cope with a lot of refueling.'_

An idea formed in his mind, and he slowly smirked. He activated his omni-tool – handy device, he thought – and paged Traynor.

"What can I help you with, sir?"

"Can you compile me a summary on all of the planets we stopped by on our way to the Paragon System? I want comparisons of settlements, defenses, patrols, and… fuel depots."

"Er, why certainly sir. It will take some time to put it all in order but I can have it done by tomorrow."

"Thank you." Harry said, then paused a little.

He unzipped his pants.

"So tell me Traynor, what did you think of the presentation? Do you think medi-gel will change the balance in the war?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure, sir. Any technological advantage held by the inferior party will more likely than not be assimilated by the superior party. From what we know of the Batarians, they have a huge technological edge. If they manage to capture a sample of medi-gel, they might be capable of reverse-engineering it. In order to protect against such an occurrence, perhaps we should modify the medi-gel bacteria to make it hostile against alien lifeforms."

"That's actually a really great idea." Harry responded as he fiddled with his mini-me. "But we don't have a medical specialist onboard who is capable of performing such a task. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, I eh.. I don't mean to presume, sir."

"No problem, specialist. Ah, just keep talking…"

* * *

The journey back gradually soured the crew's mood once they realized the full gravity of their situation. As soon as the fuel gauge dipped below 50%, people began to openly worry.

The path they took on the way back was not the same. Traynor and Pressly mapped out approximate gaps in the Batarian lines. Traynor marked locations with major planetary resources or large Batarian settlements. Pressly charted a course that looped neatly through all the gaps.

Since they possessed no intelligence at all from this area, the chance of stumbling on another occupied system was substantial. Who knew, they might stumble upon a military concentration. It was for this reason that midway through their journey, Harry chose the devil he knew.

"Pressly, please change our next destination to the Gnosis System."

"Excuse me, sir? But that's an occupied system!"

"I'm aware of that, navigator. At least we know what's out there. Out of all the systems so far, the Gnosis System provides the best opportunity to refuel."

"Sir, that's madness!" Pressly yelled, standing up to face the captain directly. "We have successfully evaded the Batarians so far and as we near the frontier the danger will subside. If we intentionally enter a Batarian system we risk throwing away all our hard gains!"

Harry purposefully ignored his objection and called up an image of the system on the central holodisplay. "The curious thing about this system is that it consists of a large settlement on this planet, here. At the rim of the system is a small asteroid base with a single fuel tank here. I don't know what the fuck the aliens are up to there, but it's just a couple of prefabricated blocks, so there aren't many up there in the first place."

"How do you think you can sneak down there, eliminate the opposition and refuel before the patrols reach our location?" Pressly asked, trying to find any faults in the captain's reasoning.

"Last time we visited this system, both ships were hovering over the settlement. I don't think either will bother patrolling that small outpost." He had to thank Traynor for pointing that out. In actuality, she was the one who discovered it all and recommended the planet to him. "Besides, if we enter the system in the right location, the light will take eight hours or so to reach the Batarian ships. That's our window of opportunity here."

Pressly, unaware of Traynor's hand in this, appeared momentarily baffled by Harry's breadth of knowledge. _'How does he even know about the speed of light issue?'_

"Now if there aren't any further objections, I'd like us to start moving in that direction."

Despite his great reluctance, the navigator complied, and set the course. As soon as he engaged the FTL, he felt worried what they might encounter in the next system. _'To suddenly surprise us with this deviation is beyond improper. Does this adrenaline junkie thrive on danger or what?'_

* * *

Harry knew that his latest decision caused considerable discontent, but he was done playing safe. According to Gabby, with additional fuel, the transport could burn at a higher rate, decreasing the lifespan of the engines but extending the range of the _Cerberus_ until she needed to discharge her static again.

'_Merlin, I never knew space travel is so complicated.'_

Without Traynor or Gabby's assistance in these technical matters, he'd make himself out as a fool. Harry wasn't completely clueless. Pressly spent half his time glowering at his back. Years of watching his back from wizard ambushes taught him to be wary of ulterior motives. _'That spineless old man is a blowbag anyhow.'_

Harry hated to act like a captain. In truth, all this posturing and intimidation to keep his subordinates in line was a chore. By nature, the former Dark Lord was intensely private, and relied on no one but himself to make it around.

He leaned back from his chair, rubbing his tired eyes from staring at the screen. Harry had been trying to get this space simulator program to give him a layout of the asteroid base, but he needed to be a fucking rocket scientist in order for him to even zoom in at the right coordinates.

'_It's times like these when minions are useful.'_ The boy admitted grudgingly. Come to think of it, not everything about being in charge was a chore. He enjoyed commanding respect, knowing that he had followers who would obey his every word. It was strange.. unfamiliar.. new..

But maybe he was due for a change. While Harry might have lost much of his power when he misplaced his Hallows, this other variety of power he derived from commanding the _Cerberus_ gave him a similar rush of invincibility. _'Is this how Voldemort got his jollies off?'_

The comparison with his predecessor and former enemy disturbed Harry a little. Voldemort, despite his vaunted knowledge and power, relied on rather uncouth figures in his quest to take over the Wizarding World. The mere fact that he held onto idiots like Pettigrew and greasy gits like Snape seriously put his competence in question.

'_Am I falling into the same pitfalls as Voldemort had? Is Conrad my idiot and Pressly my not-so-greasy git?'_

Well, he didn't have a Dark Mark to keep his men in line. Or anything else for that matter. His control over his men really relied on deception and illusion. What he projected to the male thugs and female soldiers were lies and distortions. It gnawed on him to perpetuate these untruths, and risk being unraveled if anyone ever found the truth about him. About his history, his crimes, his.. indiscretions.

Now he was getting sappy. Harry had promised to himself a long time ago that he'd close his heart, in order to protect himself from the systematic slaughter of all his friends and loved ones. The dark wizard couldn't afford to feel and care. Only strength mattered in his world, and the strongest person of all had the ultimate say.

He stood up from his desk and walked over to a panorama that the previous captain had setup. The wizard marveled at the spinning galaxy, admiring its pristine rotating arms and the majesty of its sheer size and mass. What would it be like to _be_ a galaxy? To have countless stars revolving around you?

It was ironic that Traynor had told him that the thing that kept a galaxy together was a supermassive black hole in the middle of the galactic center. To sustain the light, and keep them united, one needed a darkness to exert an attraction. Harry wondered if everything in life had darkness at its core.

Voldemort certainly qualified as an example, with sickly stars orbiting his dying but stubborn hole in his soul.

The Wizarding World, once a refuge for a persecuted race, spread its rot to the entire populace, corrupting the constellation of stars around it and dooming it to total annihilation.

Even today, in this new and strange universe, the remnants of the human race still revolved around the black star known as the Batarians. The Alliance fleets scurried away like rats from the aliens' black ships, but couldn't go too far because they relied on raiding Batarian resources to sustain their aging ships. This was an unsustainable way of life that would eventually lead to their destruction, as had happened to the Wizarding World and Voldemort before.

Only a new darkness had the potential to stave off the extinction of his race. Only a force greater than the Batarians could keep the fraying strands of humanity together and keep their bright and vibrant stars together. Only someone like Harry… could displace the Batarians as the greater darkness.

In order to achieve this noble goal, Harry had to risk his life and spend every hour in his waking day thinking up new ways to set the four-eyed aliens back. The risks were large, but so were the rewards.

Harry closed his eyes and fell into his bed. _'Soon. Tomorrow, we'll see what's out there in the Gnosis System.'_

He fell asleep, keeping that image of the spinning galaxy in his dreams.

* * *

Five minutes until the _Cerberus_ dropped out of FTL. Harry sat in his captain's seat, observing the bridge crew as they prepared for the exit transit. Not that there was much to do. Pressly had calculated the exit coordinates as close to the asteroid as he could, and if things went well, they didn't need to stay up in space for long.

"Four minutes until arrival."

Harry drummed his fingers against an armrest, wanting the clock to tick to zero. His ill-fitting Batarian armor made it awkward for him to sit. The hardness of the fit encased him, isolating his body from the world. The segmented plating made it difficult to contort his body into a more comfortable position. Yet he endured it all, because he needed to protect himself from the airless void outside the asteroid.

"Three minutes until arrival."

Ashley had her squad of three trainees ready and armed, though she felt understandably nervous about the upcoming mission. While the habitation blocks didn't appear impressive, it could still support up to two dozen Batarians. If they were all in armor and armed with rifles, her squad might be run over in seconds.

"Two minutes until arrival."

Unlike her, Harry did not doubt his plan. Sure, they might face greater than usual opposition, but they had the element of surprise. And if they were lucky enough that the news about the _Cerberus_ hasn't reached this system yet, then they might be able to sneak up close before it was too late.

"One minute until arrival."

It was for this reason that Ashley stayed behind at the ship until the surprise was blown. Harry himself would lead the trainees in full tinted faceplates up the entrance of the blocks, posing as aliens until they gained entry.

"Disengaging FTL now. Specialist Traynor, determine our position!"

"On it sir, waiting for the exit feedback to wash away. Done! Displaying our location now."

A ragged cheer went up in the bridge as they saw that Pressly had delivered through. The _Cerberus_ only needed five minutes to approach and land on the asteroid.

"We're receiving Batarian hails! Translating now!"

"This is Commander Yalak of the Rigga Outpost. This is a restricted sector. Turn back immediately and leave this place!"

Traynor turned to Harry. "This is bad. If we don't comply, the base will know something is suspicious. What are your orders, sir?"

"Can't you fake a distress or something? Tell them that we escaped from a human ambush or some shit and that we have to make an emergency landing."

"I'll try sir, but I'm not sure if they'll fall for it." The specialist turned back to her console and began to activate a software program that faked a native Batarian voice. She started speaking into it, acting as if she was a panicked captain that had no idea what was going on but needed to land immediately.

From the sound of the responses, the Batarians were not entirely skeptical, but they had firm orders to keep away visitors. _'That's strange. Why is a small outpost like that important enough to restrict visitors?'_

Yet Samantha managed to convince the Batarians that the transport was malfunctioning. Pressly even pitched in by wobbling the ship in a seemingly uncontrolled manner, while Gabby down in engineering overburned the engines, producing some spectacular pyrotechnics that could certainly be construed as engine failure.

"I'll be down with the men. Keep up the good work and get us a safe landing." Harry unbuckled himself from his seat and left the bridge until he reached the passenger airlock. The three goons who would accompany him saluted the captain automatically. Ashley followed up half-heartedly.

"Are you ready to do this?"

"Yes, sir!"

"I-I think so.."

'_Oh god, not him.'_ Harry recognized that voice anywhere. "Conrad? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Well, Lieutenant Williams thought I needed some experience under my belt, so here I am sir! I'll be sure to cover your back."

'_Yeah right._' Harry glowered at Ashley, though she probably couldn't see his expression behind his Batarian helmet. "Just keep your head on your shoulders and follow my lead."

The _Cerberus_ rumbled as she started to slow her descent. The larger than expected _thump_ at the very end came as a rude shock that almost pushed everyone off their feet.

"We've successfully landed 100 meters away from the nearest hab block. We've detected two cannon emplacements so far but they are in an AA configuration."

'_Shit. That means we've got to disable them somehow before we take off.'_

"The Batarians are sending out a delegation to inspect the 'damage' we've sustained, sir." Traynor informed Harry. "Commander Yalak is insisting we stay onboard."

'_Double shit.'_ Harry cursed again. "We'll have to improvise, then. Traynor, can you tell me how many Batarians Yalak is sending out?"

"Wait a moment.. an airlock just opened. I'm counting… five men in standard battle gear." Meaning medium armor and assault rifles. "They'll reach us in two minutes or less."

"Okay, get ready for an ambush." Ashley ordered, and pointed to Conrad. "You, stay here with the captain and greet the visitors."

"M-Me, ma'm? But why?"

"Because you're the jumpiest of the lot and they expect us to be in a disarray if we're dealing with malfunctions. Captain Potter, will you take care of the initial stage? I'd prefer it if you lure them into the ship so that we can eliminate them while they're out of sight of the Batarian outpost. Is that okay, sir?"

The young captain nodded. "I'll do my best."

"Don't forget to activate your Batarian translator program."

"I have a better idea." Harry responded, and opened a comm channel to the bridge. "Traynor, can you speak through my channel to the visitors on my behalf? I don't know what the fuck I should say to fool the Batarians."

"I'll.. try sir."

Hmm, she sounded a little bit nervous. Maybe a few words of encouragement would help. "I have faith in your ability, Traynor. You haven't failed me so far and you won't fail me now. Do your best."

"Thank you.. sir."

They waited patiently for the Batarian squad to arrive to the side of the ship. As soon as they reached the _Cerberus_, Harry received a local comm transmission.

"Open up and come out, you fat merchant brainworm!"

"My ship is on fire! You need to come in and help us out right now!" Traynor transmitted back in a simulated Batarian voice.

After a few more exchanges, the Batarian lieutenant in charge tired of the discussion and insisted on entering himself. The gangway finally extended out to the ship, letting them climb up all the way to the airlock."

Suddenly, Harry received a new comm request from.. Gabby of all people. "Yes, what is it chief?"

"Captain.. I just saw the Batarians enter the airlock."

"So? Get to the point, I don't have all day."

"I have complete control over the decontamination process! I can fool it into thinking the Batarians are extremely contagious hostile life forms. The airlock will immediately eliminate them with thermal energy."

That might cut back some of the risks. "I'm.. impressed. That's a good idea. Activate it immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

The decontamination procedure went on longer than the customary five seconds. The Batarians inside started to worry. One of them even banged his fist against the inner airlock. The comm channel was full of curses and orders to let them out. Traynor did her best to pretend that this was another malfunction, and that they had a technician working to fix the hatches. Instead, she moved to jam the airlock and the nearby area so that their outgoing signals wouldn't be received by the outside world.

Then it started. The lights inside the airlock suddenly turned red, and an alarm sounded out. The aliens inside started to panic, and one even shot his rifle at the transparent synthetic window that allowed Harry a view inside. He grinned, and removed his helmet to reveal his human identity.

The Batarians were starting to flail around, and Harry recognized some hazes in the air. The airlock.. cooked the aliens alive. The incredible cruelty of the display amused him tremendously, and he couldn't help but laugh as the Batarians tried everything, from loosening their rifles until they overheated into uselessness, to detonating frag grenades, all in vain as the sturdy hatches withstood the small-arms damage.

The heat was almost palpable now as smoke started to arise from gaps within the armor. The five aliens slowly started to collapse to their knees, until they dropped to the plating entirely.

'_Now that is one cooked ensemble.'_ Harry thought, and opened a transmission to Gabby. "Good job, girl. You've really tortured the Batarians in the most painful way possible. I bet they must have experienced intense pain throughout the entire time, until they finally begged for death."

Gabby didn't respond. A shame. Harry closed the channel and waited patiently for the airlock to cool down.

"Alright, men. The real challenge begins now. We've got to clear the outpost and secure the fuel tank. I don't want any of you to hesitate. If it's got more than two eyes, shoot it. If our luck is shitty as I expect it will be, then there's probably a lot of them out there."

The airlock opened, blasting a wave of remnant heat into the corridors. Harry's stiff armor protected him from most of the sensation. He entered the airlock with the others bar Ashley. Carefully, they dragged the half-melted, half-cooked bodies out into the corridor before they entered the airlock themselves. Harry patiently waited for the inner hatch to close and the outer hatch to open, exposing him and his squad to total vacuum.

"Let's get moving. Act like arrogant Batarians. I want to fool that base commander that we're his lackies or at least confuse the heck out of his stinking eyes."

They descended the walkway and slowly walked over to the loose gathering of habitation blocks. One way or another, blood would be spilled. The only thing in question was the color of the blood.

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


	13. I: Pit Stop

October 10, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** No comment

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_Pit Stop_

* * *

Commander Yalak was a distrustful figure. As soon as Harry and three of his disguised minions left the _Cerberus_ and walked towards the outpost, they were met with incoming fire.

"Fuck! Take cover!"

The rocky surface of the asteroid provided plenty of outcrops to hide behind. The problem was that there were at least eight shooters pinning them down at a great distance. _'I can't hit shit with my pistol from this distance.'_

"We need some way to get closer. Anyone have any bright ideas?"

"I've got a pair of grenades, but the trajectory is unpredictable due to low gee." Ashley called as she advanced forward from the ship.

"Wait! Don't throw them yet. Try to flank them in order to draw off shooters."

The security officer grunted and veered off to the side. Harry figured she might take two to three minutes to get into a secure position. In the meanwhile, the wizard waited for the Batarians' response. The standard tactic to use against entrenched enemies was...

"Incoming grenades!"

"Here we go!" Harry yelled, and broke out of cover long enough to send back a wide kinetic wave which quickly dispersed into nothingness. Against an average combatant weighing eighty kilos or so, the spell was laughably weak. Against a cluster of grenades, each weighing up to a kilo at most, it was enough to send them back in the direction of the throwers.

A series of explosions pummeled his faceplate, which automatically adjusted the filters in order to protect his eyes. No sound traveled through the near vacuum of the atmosphere, because asteroids were too small to have one in the first place. After waiting a few seconds, Harry advanced, ordering the rest of his men to do so as well. He fired a few pistol rounds in the general direction of the enemy to keep their heads down.

They advanced a good 30 meters before the return fire resumed with slightly reduced intensity. Harry was close enough now to make out the individual soldiers guarding the outpost. They were taking cover inside the airlocks of the different habitation blocks.

'_That won't stop me.'_ Harry thought, and readied his magic. "Get ready men, I'm going to try to pull one of them out."

He risked out his neck again to aim and focus his magic. With a metaphorical grasp of his hand, he _Accio_-ed the nearest defender out of the wall he was hiding behind. The Batarian stumbled forward a good five steps before tripping to his knees. While he tried to crawl back into cover, his marines pounced on the vulnerable alien like a pack of hungry hyenas. Bursts of microslugs riddled his shield and then his torso into pieces.

'_Looks like hand movements help.'_ Harry noted, and repeated the same exercise two more times.

Then the enemy changed tactics. As Harry popped out a third time, he had to call up a hasty _Protego_ as he was assaulted from four different positions.

"Shit!" He cursed, and tried to crawl away in order shake off the concentration of fire. He looked ahead at Conrad, who grew more nervous as Harry approached him. "What the fuck are you gaping at? Shoot back!"

They entered into another stalemate. Harry and his men couldn't advance while the Batarians didn't risk crawling out of cover. Without grenades or other heavy weapons, this firefight could last forever.

Then, a trainee's helmet was blown clean off as a powerful round struck his head.

"Shit! Sniper!"

Everyone lowered their heads. Harry watched the dead man fall and estimated the position of the sniper. _'Not the flanks, but.. the roof!'_

A new public comm channel emerged. It was Commander Yalak. "I know you're out there, humans! You and your pathetic little pack can't win, you know, so crawl away and leave us alone!"

Harry gritted his teeth and opened a channel back to the _Cerberus_. "We're pinned down here. I need some support."

A few seconds passed before Jacob responded. "I can bring a rocket launcher if you want."

"No, absolutely not. I don't want to damage any of those hab blocks. They might contain something valuable we can sell to the fleets."

"Right, I'll figure something out and help you as soon as I can."

As the channel closed, Harry popped up and made a few potshots at the roof of one of the hab blocks. "What are you hiding there that's so important, Yalak?"

"That's none of your business, maggot."

"Since I'm already here, why don't you give me the short version."

"Impudent worm! Take this!"

Just as Conrad turned towards the outpost to let out another burst, his shields suddenly overloaded from a remote tech attack.

"Get down!"

"AAhh!" The man yelled as he landed his faceplate against the dirt, just narrowly dodging another sniper round.

'_Shit. This Batarian is different than the others.'_

"You missed!" Harry taunted, and popped back up to poke the shields of a goon. "For a sniper you seriously suck!"

"Why you!" Yalak raged, and fired his slow-firing rifle continuously at the rock where Harry hid behind, slowly chipping it apart. _'This can't continue. I've got to get closer.'_

"Ashley, Conrad, give me some covering fire. I'm storming in!"

As the others suppressed the other Batarians, Harry dove out of his hidey hole and sprinted forward, yelling _Protego_ as loud as he could. A weird electrical sensation washed over him, disrupting his communications and other devices, yet not hampering his magical shield in the least. _'Magic trumps electronics.'_

Then, a mighty round smashed against his shield. Harry felt his feet push back just a little, but he expected the shot and quickly continued to hop forward, letting his armor's gravity boots keep him from going too high.

"Why won't you die!"

"Because you suck." Harry lamely replied, focusing more on reeling another Batarian. Ashley spotted the opportunity and wore down the vulnerable enemy's shields. Harry's pistol quickly made short work of that shmuck.

"Rwwarrggh!" Yalak roared into his suit comm. "why won't my Overload doesn't affect you! You're a biotic! It should work against barriers!"

Harry didn't respond to that, focusing instead on eliminating the other grunts. When he was just about to pull the next person out, he suddenly saw a fireball of some sorts fly right at him. _'SHIT!'_

The thing arced over all the obstacles in its path and veered right towards Harry. Not sure whether his _Protego_ would block the attack, he opted to dodge instead, letting the incendiary explosion heat his boots instead of his entire body.

"I've got you now!" Yalak roared, and fired another round.

Fortunately, Harry had already anticipated the ploy and cast the _Protego_ he had been saving up. He used the precious seconds he bought for himself to scramble back behind another rock. _'What's taking Jacob so long? And what the fuck is Ashley doing?'_

"I'm going to flush you out in the open as long as it takes, maggot!" His enemy growled and sent another homing fireball at the wizard, forcing him to repeat the same trick. As Harry ran towards another rock, he saw the hatch from another hab block open, revealing another Batarian who now had a clear shot at the boy.

"Kill that fucking sniper NOW!" Harry ordered as he redirected his _Protego_ to block the assault rifle in front of him. He dropped his pistol entirely in order to conjure up another magical shield to block the incoming sniper rounds.

The slugs pounded him with a vengeance, pushing him back and straining his concentration. He desperately ran forward, but doubted whether he'd make it in time.

"Die, maggot!" The Batarian commander cackled, but suddenly gurgled as a large commotion happened somewhere on the roof.

"The sniper is taken care off!" Jacob said as he appeared over the roof, dropping the corpse of the commander over the lip. He pumped his shotgun and rained pellets on the Batarian harassing the captain.

With the sniper and tech expert taken care off, Ashley and the surviving grunts gained enough room to move forward. Harry and Jacob killed one more Batarian before the remaining defenders got cold feet, and fled inside the hab blocks, locking the hatches as they retreated.

"Shit, they must be fortified in there." Harry remarked as he studied the locked hatches.

"I can hack them if you want, sir."

"Do so immediately." Harry turned towards Ashley. "You, secure the perimeter and take up a defensive position. Make sure none of the other Batarians come to stab us in the backs."

The woman nodded, and directed her men to sweep the grounds of the outpost.

The hacking took a while due to Jacob's relative lack of proficiency. After five minutes of watching an orange circle-thing go round and round, it finally turned to green, and opened the outer hatch.

Only to reveal the inner hatch.

"Damnit." Harry was afraid of this. If Jacob and him entered the airlock and waited for the outer hatch to close before the inner one opened, then the Batarian would be ready to ambush them. While Harry might be able to stop bullets with his _Protego_, if the Batarian had something at hand it might not end well.

"Jacob, I need you to hack the inner airlock as well. There's no way I'm locking myself in."

"But sir, the sudden decompression might ruin anything that's inside."

"I don't care what's inside these stupid blocks!" Harry admonished his security officer. "We're only here for the fuel, and to get the fuel we need to clear this outpost. Now do it, Jacob."

The man felt conflicted, and hesitated for a few seconds before surrendering to reality. "Fine. This won't take as long now that I've got a fix on the system."

True enough, two minutes later, the inner hatch opened. The air that neatly kept the interior breathable reacted harshly to the sudden exposure to vacuum. It blew out of the airlock with a mighty rush of wind that buffeted Jacob ten steps back.

Junk quickly spat out from the airlock, from potted plants to bed sheets to pillows. Soon enough, the Batarian himself flung out in an uncontrollable path, and Harry had no problem putting slugs into his helpless body.

"That's one down."

"Wait, captain. We should make a quick sweep of the interior before we move on. We don't want to risk getting shot in the back."

'_Good point.'_ Harry fell in with Jacob, who took the lead and carefully entered the now airless hab block. There wasn't much to be found here, only beds and couches and the sort. "It's a barracks."

There were more than enough beds to house all of the guards. That meant that the remaining blocks contained something else.

"Area's clear. Let's move on."

When they cleaned out the next hab block, they encountered nothing but a lavish apartment. "Must be Yalak's personal quarters."

This still left four more blocks, one of which currently housed a cowardly Batarian. When Jacob approached hacked open the outer hatch of that block, he hesitated.

"I'm not sure whether we should do this. This looks more and more like a preliminary mining base. Yalak's apartment had datapads strewn about that. What if there are human slaves in this block?"

The idea made sense, but Harry didn't understand what Jacob was getting at. "So what?"

"I'm not about to open this unit to vacuum if there are humans inside. It's wrong."

This was the last thing Harry needed. He approached Jacob and shoved his pistol under his chin. "There is an armed Batarian inside. Flush him out. I'm not going to refuel my ship until he's taking care of. That's an order."

For the first time in days, Jacob visibly grew angry. Harry would have none of it, and pressed the barrel of his pistol against the helmet, making his point abundantly clear. After a few seconds of glaring, the Corsair turned away, defeated. "Alright. I'll do it. But whatever happens is your responsibility."

Lieutenant Taylor re-initiated the hacking program and slowly cracked the inner airlock.

As the yellow circle turned and turned, Harry waited tensely a bit further back, so as not to be affected by the escaping wind. He wondered what he might find inside. An office space? A laboratory? Or a gang of human slaves just as Jacob suspected? By breaching open this hab block, Harry might damage any valuable materials inside. What if it contained something organic, or delicate? What if there were test tubes of strange chemicals inside that would most certainly break once Jacob finished hacking open the door?

Harry pushed away these doubts. He came here for fuel, not for treasure. And besides, the wizard doubted this outpost held anything valuable if it didn't have a dedicated ship hovering over the asteroid.

The yellow circle disappeared, and a green square took its place. With a heavy breath, Jacob touched the hologram with his hands, opening the insides to the void of space.

This time, the junk that flew out was significantly thicker. It was so thick, in fact, that Harry had trouble spotting the floating Batarian in the midst of the debris.

"_Arresto Momentum!_" The wizard yelled once he spotted the panicking alien, slowing him down long enough for Jacob and him to finish him off. "Alright, I hope that's all, but we can't be too sure."

Jacob and the others didn't respond. Instead, they pointed at the stream of floating debris. Now that it wasn't confined to the artificial gravity of the hab block, it flew out into space without any regard to the asteroid.

"It's… glowing." Harry said dumbly. Hundreds of small canisters floated away. Some of them were ruptured, and leaked out a strange glowing blue gas.

"That's pure eezo."

Eezo. Element Zero. The rare miracle substance that seemed to be the center of Batarian technology. Each of their tech derived from eezo, from anti-gravity plating to weapons to space ship propulsion. Despite their cruel and vicious nature, they were so far beyond the technology curve that mankind was lucky not to have been wiped out by now.

"Huh. Hey, isn't this stuff worth a lot?"

"Yes." Jacob sighed, and belatedly closed the hatch. There was no chance that much of the eezo containers were still inside, but Jacob was glad that the hab block wasn't occupied by slaves.

"Too bad about all that eezo, but we haven't got the time to gather them all up. Let's move on and inspect the remaining hab blocks before we clear the crew into refueling the ship."

* * *

After thoroughly exploring the outpost and reading several abandoned datapads, it turned out that this was a preliminary mining site for eezo. The Batarians scouted this asteroid over seventy years ago, but only now bothered to start mining the stuff.

There were no slaves on this outpost. The remaining hab blocks either contained mining equipment or empty racks. One hab block was merely the entrance to the mine, and Harry quickly closed it off when memories of his own short enslavement came back at him. _'Damnit, I'm getting soft.'_

Chief Engineer Daniels led a work crew to start the refueling process. After making sure the anti-aircraft guns were deactivated, Pressly relocated the _Cerberus_ closer to the fuel tank. As soon as the ship made a safe landing, Gabby's workers then led a thick nozzle to the lower hull of the transport and connected it to the internal tank. Then the liquid started to flow.

Harry found the sight rather strange. _'Just like refueling a muggle car.'_ He thought with amusement. For aliens, the Batarians sure looked more and more human each time he came in touch with them. He was now fairly certain that these similarities were not a coincidence. _'C'mon, these are just humans with an extra pair of eyes.. and nostrils. Real aliens should be weird stuff like killer robots or floating jellyfish, not a bad copy of humans.'_

He knew he was starting to stray into speculation and drew his mind back to work. Once the refueling process is well underway, he ordered any spare crew to loot the outpost of anything valuable, in particular whatever eezo containers remained in that chaotic storehouse.

In order to motivate his crew (and distract them from the death of one of their comrades), Harry allowed each person to claim whatever they could carry as their personal property. Only the eezo containers and other industrial goods were reserved for the cargo bay.

This caused a predictable scramble to form, where almost each and every person tried to snatch goods like liquor to jewelry, not that the Batarians were particularly caring of their own appearance. They had funny religious statues as well that some of the men thought would fetch a nice price from certain collectors.

Four hours after they initially arrived at the system, most of the looting died down. All of the eezo cylinders were safely stuffed into a large container on the _Cerberus_, while every crewmen's lockers were filled with spoils of war. Pressly walked up to Harry as the captain stared out at the cargo bay, noting how much space they had left to carry more goods.

"Captain Potter, the refueling is completed. The men are… all satisfied with what they have taken, so we have no more reason to stay on this asteroid. With your permission, the _Cerberus_ will take off and FTL to our next planned destination."

The executive officer already started to turn back to the bridge, but Harry halted him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait a moment. Didn't we have an eight hour window?"

"Well.. yes, sir. The light of our arrival on this outpost will take eight hours to travel to the patrol vessels which are orbiting the major settlement. But I caution you to leave immediately. We do not know their patrol schedules. What if those warships are simply refueling or rotating personnel? Just as it takes eight hours for them to know we arrived, it takes eight hours for us to know if they left their orbit to travel back to this outpost."

"Oh." Harry didn't think of that. Yet still, he wasn't ready to leave. "Regardless of that, there is still something I want to take from this rock."

"Don't tell me you want to grab those floating eezo canisters? That's preposterous!"

"Watch your tone, Pressly. I'm still the captain here." Harry barked, causing the older man to stiffen his face. "It's not the eezo I want. Rather, what I'm aiming for are those two things." He gestured towards the AA gun emplacements. "They don't look too big and I'm sure we have enough space in our cargo bay."

The navigator almost couldn't comprehend the idea. "Those are _fixed_ gun emplacements, as in they are not meant to be removed. Even under low gravity conditions, it will take many hours just to dismantle the gun turrets from the base of the towers! And even if we steal the turrets, we can't attach them to the _Cerberus_. Transport ships do not possess the rigor to withstand the stresses involved."

"Even if we can't use them ourselves, we can still sell them to a fleet."

"Captain… while it is prudent of you to take our budget into concern, might I remind you that we are intruding in an occupied star system with two Batarian warships?"

"I understand the risk involved in staying longer, but I really want those guns. We're staying here and that's my final world."

Harry turned away and started passing out his new orders. All the while, Pressly stood in his place, clenching his fist as he had witnessed yet another inane decision.

'_When will this kid learn that survival is not game?'_

* * *

Gabby hadn't expected the order to come, so she worked herself ragged getting the confused crewmen to get back out into space to dismantle the anti-air guns.

She made a quick inspection of the devices. They were identical models with the exact same parts, a fact which cut down the complexity significantly. Still, she saw no way of loosening the turret in just four hours.

"It's impossible, sir. We just can't do it. With the manpower that I currently have, it would take at least sixteen hours to remove a single gun!"

"Hmm.." Harry hummed, staring up at one of the turrets in his customary biotic armor this time. "I don't see how this will take sixteen hours if you just use the mining equipment to cut right through the base."

The engineer's eyes widened. What Harry just suggested was a big no-no in the engineering world. "You'll destroy a lot of components and there's no telling how it might affect the turret itself. On top of that, the mining equipment isn't precise enough to cut clean through this plating."

"I detect doubt, but not outright rejection." Harry noted as he clapped Gabby's back, each time sinking lower and lower until he almost reached her ass. "So if it's possible, then do it. Cut the towers. I don't care how much extra debris is still hanging off the turrets. I want them. Make sure that both of them are brought into my cargo bay in four hours."

"I-I… can't make any promises, sir."

"That's too bad." Harry whispered, even though the private comm channel communicated his words clearly. He leaned over his slave, roughly squeezing her buns. "I might have to punish you if you've been naughty."

Harry walked back to the _Cerberus_, chuckling darkly as he left a flustered engineer behind. She waited until Harry disappeared out of sight before straightening her vacuum suit. The girl bit her lip, trying to wipe away the frightening sensations. What did Harry mean with punishment?

A deluge of forbidden images flashed over Gabby, making her cry out and recoil. She self-consciously covered her bum, as if to protect them from invasion. Yet Gabby knew very well that Harry could overpower her. _'I can't let that happen. Not again. Not so soon.'_

The girl took a deep breath, and lifted up her chin. She had to act like a chief now. She turned to the nearest lounging workers and rattled out their new orders. They had work to do.

* * *

It turned out that with some proper motivation, Gabby managed to bring back both of the turrets with half an hour to spare. Sure, the cuts were crude and it was doubtful if they could ever make use of them, but Harry was happy.

When Pressly finally received the order to leave, he swiftly brought the _Cerberus_ back into space and bugged out of the Gnosis System with a relieved breath.

"It appears we were lucky once again." Pressly commented dryly as he engaged the autopilot. "With all this extra fuel, we can make longer hops."

"We also have a buffer to spare if we're being pursued by enemy forces." Traynor said. "Come to think of it, the Batarian warships we left behind might be able to determine our course."

"I've already taken that into account." The navigator bit back, feeling somewhat peeved that she thought he hadn't taken such an elementary factor into account. "With all the extra fuel, I've programmed a slight zig-zag course from here to the Second Fleet listening post. We'll drop out of FTL a lot more times, but it should make us safe from any pursuers."

"Looks like you have things well in hand, Pressly. Keep up the good work." Harry said before standing up and leaving the bridge.

It was a long day for him. The Batarians were tough, but they were unprepared for his sudden arrival. They were positioned just far away from the frontier that they hadn't dealt with Alliance raids. _'Hmm… that means that the Batarians are stretched out. Most of their big guns are probably protecting their core assets, while their anti-piracy forces are spread out at the frontier. This leaves most of the middle territory unprotected.'_

The conclusion made sense. _'For all their vaunted technological superiority, they are not as numerous as everyone thinks they are. At least in a military sense.'_

Still, everyone said that the Batarians were unbeatable in space. Just because Harry defeated the aliens on the ground didn't mean that he could weld some turrets on the _Cerberus_ and go toe-to-toe with a Batarian cruiser. _'I have to take this slow and play the long game. There's no sense letting my overconfidence take the better out of me. Merlin knows how many times that had happened already. My latest stunt with the Device sending me off to this magic-less universe not the least.'_

His quarters chimed a familiar welcoming tone as he entered the abode. The previous captain had programmed that in and Harry didn't bother to change it. Come to think of it, his predecessor did have quite the taste. _'If he isn't so hell-bent on enslaving us and calling us maggots, I would have liked to have tea with him.'_

It was a funny thought. He imagined it now, meeting the Batarian at a fancy place somewhere in London. They shook hands before sitting down and browsing the menu. As they waited for their fancy tea to arrive, Harry would ask all kinds of questions to his companion. Why surround yourself with panoramas of stars and galaxies instead of pictures of his wife? Do Batarians even have females? What do they look like? Do they smell as bad as the males of your race? Hey, why are you snarling at me like that? Ouch, that hurts! Hey, I don't know what it's like in your culture, but bashing in someone's skull is pretty rude.

Harry shook his head. _'What the fuck am I thinking?'_ He sat down on his bed, scowling at himself for having a moment of insanity. Why did he become so utterly distracted?

…

Oh.

He got I now. _'I haven't gotten laid in a million years. All the excitement and preparations for battle occupied all of my attention.'_

Well, that wasn't too good, was it? With casual ease, he called up his omni-tool and speed-dialed Gabby.

"Yes, sir?" She asked nervously over the channel.

"Hey there Gabby. Since you've done such a great job with the turrets and behaved well so far, I'd like you to come to my quarters so I can give you a treat."

"…A treat, s-sir?"

"Yes, a treat. A reward. Now get the fuck over here before I come and drag you by your hair!"

"Y-Y-Yes Master!"

The channel closed, giving Harry a minute or two to make himself comfortable on his bed. He didn't mean to sound so harsh back then, but sometimes the girl was a little slow. Cute, but slow. He tolerated very little from his slaves, especially when they were new. They had a tendency to scream and nag. A few brutal sessions quickly put them back into place, fortunately.

"Captain-, I mean Master, you called for me?" Gabby said as she shuffled into his quarters. Harry had taken the liberty of granting her permission to enter his room. That way, if she needed an itch to scratch, she could always come to him.

"Yes. As I've said, since you've been such a good girl to me during your entire tenure so far, I thought it is finally time for you to receive a reward."

Harry didn't elaborate, and the silence stretched as Gabby squirmed her feet. Finally, she spoke. "What is my reward.. master?"

"It's not that much, for now. It's just that at this moment, my dick is hard. Do you know what I usually do when my dick is hard?"

Gabby gulped then, and tried to look anywhere but at her master's crotch. "You.. relieve it?"

"Yes. That's a smart girl. I must confess that I haven't been entirely faithful to you."

That boggled her mind a little. What did Harry mean by that? Was he abusing another girl besides herself?

"Oh no, it's not what you think. I haven't gone around to beating my other beau up yet. I just wank myself off from her voice, that's all."

While Gabby felt slightly relieved that another woman wasn't suffering as much as her, it still sounded disturbing.

"And of course, in other times, I rough you up and make your holes ready for a brutal fucking."

This was it, she thought. This was the moment where Harry turned nasty and forcefully began to defile her body.

"But that wouldn't make a good reward, would it?" He said, surprising her again. His next words were another shock. "So this time, I will let you choose how to get me off."

"Uhmm.. excuse me, Master?"

"It's exactly as I said. Get. Me. Off."

"Anyway I want, sir?"

"Yup, but it better be damn sexy. My dick is spoiled rotten. If you thought you could get me off with a quick wank, then think again."

She stood, silent and confused. Was Harry actually ordering her to pleasure him… by her own power? She pressed her fingers, feeling scared and uncertain. Up to now, when her Master wanted sex, he always took it from her by force. His lust was relentless and his strength too great to resist. The captain completely dominated her, robbing her of each and every freedom and reduced her to a sack of meat that just happened to have three convenient holes.

This was different. Now, Harry sat back on his bed, smiling impishly at her as he waited for her do to her task. Her mission. Gabby already knew her new mission in life was to service her Master in any capacity, but this was _different_. This time he asked her to do it _herself_, by her own _choice_. Well, not exactly, because she doubted she could just turn back and leave.

But…

'_He's going to get his fun out of me one way or another. This is a chance for me to get it over quickly, before he grows mad…'_

"One tip for you. It would help if you strip."

"Strip.. sir?"

"Of course, if you don't want to, you can keep your clothes on, but you have a sexy body, Gabby. I bet you can get me off real fast if you bare that hot rack to me."

The woman awkwardly covered her feminine parts with her arms, feeling so much shame to hear those praises from him. Yet… another part of her felt glad. Glad that someone found her.. desirable.

Gabby shook her head. Harry wasn't the kind of person she was interested in. She turned back to her job, and slowly began to peel away her clothes. The engineer didn't want to make this into a show. _'I'm not a whore.'_ Yet somehow she started to curl her legs and dance her body as she slowly lowered her pants. Clad in her lingerie, she halted, and then crawled onto the bed and up to Harry's body.

"That's the spirit. Why don't you help me take off my own clothes?"

The engineer blinked away her confusion and tried not to stare too much at Harry's face. It always hurt her when she looked at him directly. Now he was looking at her, his lustful gazes eagerly soaking up her half-naked body. He made her feel so conscious about herself, so insecure.

'_Don't think about that. Just focus on his body and his.. tool.'_

Slowly, Gabby lowered her fingers onto his clothes. She felt his lean and hard muscles under his dress shirt. Just touching him like this made her feel.. empowered. In control. The mere fact that she could attract Harry's desires gave her a small comfort in her suffering. Harry hurt her, but he also worshipped her. In that intimate moment, Gabby felt she was anything but a slave. She felt as if she was a lover.

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


	14. I: Making the Sale

October 13, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** I haven't updated in a few days because a bunch of stuff happened. First, XCOM: Enemy Unknown released so I played that until the wee late hours. I'm still in my first game and boy, even at normal ironman difficulty the gameplay is murder. I can't seem to hang on to veterans long enough haha. The other thing that happened is the release of the latest Mass Effect 3 multiplayer DLC, where you can play those short fat Volus trololol.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_Making the Sale_

* * *

Harry stood silently in his practice room. He needed total concentration to experiment with his magic. Any distractions only muddled the results. He extended one of his hands and pumped magic through its length. The wizard then quickly bent his closing fist to his face, as if plucking an apple from a tree. Yet his eyes were focused on a metal cup sitting peacefully on a small table. _'Come to me.'_

"_Accio!"_

The cup flew from its perch and landed firmly on Harry's waiting palm. Harry took a mental note of the experience, set the cup back and walked back to the other side of the room to cast the spell again.

This time, however, he kept his arm outstretched and instead crooked his finger, as if taunting the cup to attack him. The effect of his spell was much weaker this time, jerking the object from the table only to fall short on his feet.

The boy set the cup back, and cast _Accio_ again. This time, he used both his arms and bent them to his body as if he was yanking a rope. The cup came a little stronger this time, eliciting a small gasp of pain from the wizard.

Dropping the cup, Harry leaned back and analyzed the results he had obtained so far. _'My arm movements are having an effect on the strength of my spell. I bet all the other spells can be similarly manipulated by different movements.'_

As someone who never dabbled much into wandless magic, this came as a surprise to Harry. Yet on further thought, it made sense. Precise and complex spells always needed elaborate hand motions. He just never really thought about the reason why the spells needed them, and never thought to apply them to both wand and wandless magic. _'It appears that both types of magic are bound by the same rules.'_

This was a different image for the wizard to reconcile with. Harry always thought of wandless magic as a chaotic extension of the accidental magic a wizard child experienced in his youth. The magic that formed within a budding child was young, immature, and expressed itself only through intense emotions. _'Is that still true with mature magic?'_

There were definitely spells that relied on emotion as a primary component. The Three Unforgivables came to mind. _'Does that mean I can cast the Killing Curse wandlessly?'_

Harry decided not to try. He never really bothered with the Unforgivables because they were more trouble than they were worth. According to some scholars, they stained the soul and poisoned the mind, and caused the caster to become addicted to dark magic. Harry might have fancied himself as a Dark Lord, but he didn't want to become as batshit crazy as old Voldemort.

Besides, he already learned a great deal from this experimentation. Magic, even in a wandless form, could be tamed. Wand and wandless magic required one or more of the same components: raw magic, a focus, a verbal incantation, and a physical component such as body movement. The lack of a focus seriously crippled Harry's ability to transform his wild magic into the purity of refined spells.

This made it curious that Harry was able to competently cast spells such as the _Accio_ and the _Reducto_. Even the most complex of his current arsenal, the _Protego_, appeared as a white shield instead of an invisible barrier. This meant that the boy somehow compensated his lack of focus by his intimate familiarity with these spells.

'_Can any spell be cast wandlessly if you have enough practice with them? Do I even need a wand in the first place to cast any spell?'_

His earlier conclusions supported this strange and wild idea. The wand was not an enabler; it acted as a facilitator. The wand provided witches and wizards a shortcut, allowing them to cast highly complex constructions without bothering to learn the intricacies of the spells they were conjuring.

In other words, the wand was a crutch.

Before Harry came to this realization, he always thought it would be impossible for him to transfigure anything without his wand. Now, though, he became aware that the real problem was himself. Much about magic depended on willpower. Give the magic an instruction, and it would mold itself into the image of your desires.

After attempting to transfigure the metal cup into a plastic one, Harry quickly found out that it wasn't as easy as he thought. Despite all efforts to effect the transfiguration, he just couldn't change the molecular makeup of the object. _'A wand is not necessary, but it cuts back much of the difficulty in casting a spell.'_

However, he could already see some potential avenues of growth. _'There are five components behind every spell. The lack of a wand just removes one component. If I change or strengthen the remaining ones, I might be able to unlock more spells.'_

He went back to practicing his _Accio_, trying different arm movements to effect the spell. In most cases, the motions introduced complexity in his intent and weakened the final spell. Only a couple of times did Harry manage to improve his _Accio_. Slowly, but surely, Harry felt he came across a.. variable, for lack of better word. If he slowed down his movements just enough, the _Accio_ worked slower, and the cup flew gently in the air. If he speeded up on the other hand, the thing came fast, but the trajectory was all over, almost hitting the wizard in the nuts.

'_Huh. I can cast the same spell in multiple different ways.'_

That made sense, Harry concluded. Yet if _Accio_ could be varied in countless different ways, so could other spells. What Hogwarts and all the other textbooks taught were just the basic variation of each spell. Throughout his entire life, Harry never really bothered to outgrow his Hogwarts form, and cast the same spells over and over in the same way he learned all the way back to his six years at school. The only times he varied from the teaching standard was when he followed Snape's instruction from his book. Even there Harry didn't stray from the book.

'_Schools in my day only taught the simplest version of each spell. I never knew there was so many variety hidden behind them. Is this what every spell weaver knows when they create new spells? Does the version they present to the public represent just one arbitrary choice amongst many similar imitations?'_

This was another profound thought that made him fundamentally reconsider the nature of magic and the woefully inadequate method he was taught in. Surely, even the ancient Egyptian or Sumerian wizards who didn't enjoy the benefit of centuries of knowledge learned all of their spells from formal instruction. Yet they were known as one of the greatest wizards to walk the Earth, and millennia after their deaths, their intricate wards and curses still haunted many treasure seekers.

'_They were great spell casters not because they enjoyed the best instruction, but because they had to figure it out by themselves. Those primitive humans had a greater understanding of fundamental magic than each subsequent generation that built from their foundations.'_

This was the key. Wizard Magic, in its modern form, didn't represent the end-state of magical development. It represented just a single variation from many other alternate means of controlling magic. In other parts of the world Harry left behind, plenty of magic users practiced their work through shamanism, or meditation, or Eastern alchemy. While the Western Wizarding World looked down on these practices as outdated rituals, they all represented a means to harness the wildest force of nature, some without a wand.

Instead of pining over his lost wand, Harry needed to pick himself up and try to learn more about magic from the start. Forget the _Accio_ or the _Protego_. He needed to go back to basics, and start to get a feel of how magic worked without bias.

'_I was a fool to think that my strength in magic made me close to understanding it. In truth, I only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.'_

He resumed his experimentation and manipulated the cup in vastly different directions.

* * *

The journey all the way back to the listening outpost went quietly after their little stop in the Gnosis System. They already knew approximately which systems were heavily guarded and which only had light patrols. Usually, lightly populated systems were more concerned with protecting settlements instead of hovering over an empty gas giant. This allowed the _SSV Cerberus_ to pop in, dump her static electricity, and disappear from the system before the Batarian ships even knew that an intruder had arrived.

'_Why don't the Batarians build weapon platforms over the gas planets?'_ Harry wondered. Perhaps the expense was too great, or they were too easily avoided. The latter was more likely but both were probable factors. The more Harry glimpsed the Batarian infrastructure, the more he was convinced how sloppy and stretched they were. The aliens claimed a massive territory encompassing scores of planet, yet they only really develop a dozen or so planets. The rest of the systems were left largely empty, as their only use seemed to be extracting resources cheaply.

Well, if the Batarians decided to play stupid, who was he to complain? Harry stopped worrying about incidents and focused mainly on honing his magic. In his off hours, he familiarized himself with human weaponry under Jacob's supervision and shared coffee with Traynor when she was in the mood.

Oh, and he also fucked the shit out of Gabby, because staying cooped up inside a ship for a month was really droll. He'd recently taken to training her by stuffing a plug up her bumhole. Sure, his little slave cried a lot and begged her to service him in her own way, but Harry preferred to have some variety.

His crew hadn't idled either. As the routine of shipboard life settled in, they stopped worrying about ambushes and accidents. Ashley ran her marine trainees hard, determined not to let another one of them die. Even Conrad took his training seriously after experiencing that traumatic event, though his marksmanship stayed decidedly subpar.

Harry was pretty satisfied with the men and women he had. They kept the ship running and obeyed his commands. Even better, the success of his risky gamble had even earned him some of their respect. The majority didn't think of him anymore as a kid who was way in over his head. That patronizing attitude had thoroughly disappeared.

It was after the tranquil journey has ended when the _Cerberus_ went back in business. Pressly had exited the _Cerberus_ over a near-perfect orbit over the rocky planet that hosted the hidden listening post for the Alliance Second Fleet.

"No ships detected in the system." Traynor reporting. "Nothing unusual on sensors. The coast is clear, sir."

"Good. Contact the listening post."

"Aye aye, captain. We've still got the coordinates for their laser receivers. I'm transmitting our hail now."

It didn't take long before they received a reply. "_SSV Cerberus_, state the nature of your visit or leave immediately. Your continued presence is compromising our location."

"Wow, they sound peeved."

"Sir, we shouldn't keep them waiting." Pressly stated as he frowned in disapproval. "The listening post does have a point. If there are any Batarian probes observing this system, we can't dawdle around here."

"Fine, fine." Harry waved at his navigator. "Specialist Traynor, send them that brief about medi-gel. That should impress the officer in charge."

The bridge waited patiently as the _Cerberus_ transmitted a short description of what they found at the Paragon System as well as video footage of the substance in action.

Harry predicted two possible responses to the material he sent out. One possibility was that they would go absolutely nuts and offer him their arms and legs for the medi-gel.

Unfortunately for him, the listening post was rather skeptical.

"We receive offers for 'lost technology' all the time. We are not interested in fabrications or incremental improvements. Either state your real business, or leave this system."

'_How fucking stupid can they be?'_ Harry sourly thought as he listened to the reply. He opened his mouth to respond but paused. He could tell them to stuff it up their ass, but that would get him nowhere. After more than a month of FTL travel, he didn't relish spending more weeks just to reach the Fifth Fleet's listening post.

Samantha turned to her captain with a questioning expression. "Sir? How should we respond? Shall I try a diplomatic approach?"

"Hmmm… no. I'd like to send them a message myself. Can you record my next words?"

When Harry received the sign, he cleared his throat and spoke. "Listen you elitist fucks, I've been risking my ship all the way into Batarian territory to get this huge treasure. If you think its fake, it's your loss. I'll be trading my discovery to all the other fleets who will use the medi-gel to save the lives of their injured men. When you look back on this day, I hope the dead from your fleet will haunt you for the rest of your lives for denying them the use of this wonderful human invention."

As soon as the message was sent, the bridge crew waited with baited breath for the listening post's response. The silence stretched for seven whole minutes before the Second Fleeters deigned to give a reply.

"Lieutenant Bergensen will dock with your ship in a shuttle to verify the authenticity of your claims."

"Looks like they got some sense after all." Harry muttered and left his seat. "I'll go put on something formal. Inform me if anything changes."

While the Second Fleet's snub had angered him, this was not the time to squander an opportunity to milk them dry and gain more power. While he doubted he could negotiate them to give him a warship, they might be able to provide him with the most valuable resource he currently ran low on: manpower. With less than ten battle capable marines, half of which _still_ didn't know which end of the barrel to point to the enemy, Harry lacked crucial firepower. He could also use more on the crew department. While obtaining a pilot was a top priority, the _Cerberus_ could also use a couple more engineers and perhaps a few spare gunners once he figured out a way to mount the stolen anti-air guns on his ship.

By the time the shuttle mated with the _Cerberus_' airlock, Harry and Jacob stood ready to receive two familiar faces. Lieutenant Bergensen youthful face greeted them with barely disguised eagerness. Only Sergeant Hauptmann's level-headedness kept him in check.

"Good day, Captain Potter. My sincere apologies over the skepticism some of my.. colleagues have expressed over this medi-gel."

"It's fine, lieutenant." Harry said dismissively, though he still seethed a little. "I'm glad that you've come. First, let me show you the medi-gel and prove once and for all that we aren't kidding."

The two _Cerberus_ officers led their guests to an empty compartment where Harry usually practiced his magic. Due to a shortage of real estate on the cramped crew compartments of the transport, he set it up as a demonstration room. As they entered the room, Gabby greeted the new arrivals.

"Sirs." She saluted crisply, her demeanor all business due to the gravity of the situation. "I've readied a small sample of medi-gel and prepared the lab equipment." She gestured towards the microscope and all manner of other gadgets. "You may use any of them to study the medi-gel and its effects upon application."

As the young lieutenant eagerly stepped forward, Harry stopped him still. "Not yet. First, hand over your omni-tools. I don't want you learning more than we intend from this demonstration."

Bergensen was very attached to his omni-tool and it took a threat of withdrawal for him to finally remove his tool and place it in a storage box. After Jacob swept both of them for any bugs or other hidden devices, they were finally allowed to approach the table where all the materials rested.

"Okay Gabby, do your magic."

She nodded, picking up a small test tube which contained roughly a teaspoon of medi-gel. "This sample is extracted from a larger storage container we have managed to recover from the ruins of the research outpost. As stated in the brief, it is a genetically modified bacterial life form that engages in a symbiotic relationship with the native organisms of its origin planet. Unlike the native variety however, this strain is an unfinished work. It will not last more than a couple of days out of specially prepared storage, and the cells will all die off once they have effected healing, making them effectively one use."

"You say that this medi-gel is a bacteria. Is it also self-replicating?"

The engineer shrugged. "My expertise is in engines, not biology or medical science. We are keeping the sample frozen in its original container in order to minimize risks, so no we do not know if they can replicate by themselves. However, I'm sure that once you have obtained the full research data, a fleet can begin cultivating medi-gel on their own."

After a few more wonky questions, not all of which Gabby had the authority to answer, the lieutenant was satisfied. "Let's move on to the demonstration, shall we?"

Harry nodded and pointed to a knife laid on the table. "In order to avoid the suspicion that we're pulling the wool over your eyes, I think you should experience it yourself."

"I-Is that safe?" Suddenly Bergensen lost some of his enthusiasm.

Smirking, Harry picked up the knife and forcefully put it in his hand. "We applied it to two people so far, and they haven't been dropping dead so far. It's perfectly safe."

The lieutenant looked at the knife in disgust.

"Let me be the first one to try it, sir." Hauptmann said and accepted the knife as Bergensen practically threw it at him. The sergeant then cut a decently deep line along his forearm. "That should do it. I'm ready, sir."

"Gabby?"

The woman put on some gloves and took hold of the tube that contained the medi-gel. She removed the stopper and then slowly poured it over Hauptmann's bleeding forearm. Once the entire contents were drained, she put down the tube and then smeared the grey-ish gel over the entire wound.

"It.. it doesn't hurt at all. It probably has some anesthetic qualities. Yet I can feel it working on my flesh."

The two Second Fleeters both looked in wonder as the cut healed before their eyes. A minute later, the process finished entirely, leaving no trace at all, not even a scar. Gabby cleaned the skin area with a wipe to eliminate all traces of medi-gel so that they couldn't scrape it off and study them by themselves.

"So this is.. what humanity had developed all along. This could have saved millions, perhaps even billions of lives." Bergensen said with wonder. "If only the Batarians hadn't invaded us so soon, when our race was barely expanding beyond our ancestral solar system."

It would have mattered little. Regardless how good the humans were at the ground fight, in today's world the course of a war was determined by fleets, not by armies.

Still, medi-gel had enormous potential, and might be worth quite a penny. "Now that you have confirmed the authenticity of our discovery, let's go and negotiate a trade."

The four departed to the conference room. After making themselves comfortable, Harry made his position clear. "First off, we are not going to give you the medi-gel for free. We haven't risked our lives, our ship and our freedom just to let you reap the benefits. I'm all for helping humanity, but we need to recoup our losses and enhance our capabilities in order to continue operating."

"What kind of.. aid.. are you looking for?" Bergensen said guardedly. "The Second Fleet is not a prosperous organization. We can hardly spare you a bounty."

"There are four other fleets we can negotiate with. If you don't like our terms, then tough luck."

"Fine. What is your offer?"

"Jacob knows what we currently need the most, but first, let me tell you this." Harry said, pressing his hands together. "The following are nonnegotiable. First, we get public credit for discovering medi-gel and bringing it back to the Alliance Remnant. I want your fleet to broadcast the news publically and we'll be checking to make sure you give us our due."

The lieutenant frowned a little. "You want to rendezvous with the main fleet? That is a highly unusual request."

"This is a highly unusual trade. I'm not asking for much, simply recognition. Unless you want to screw us over and take credit for yourselves, I'm not taking anything away from you. Besides, there's another reason why I want to meet with your fleet."

"And that is…?"

"Recruitment. I want manpower. You've got thousands of soldiers and civilians. I'm sure you can spare a couple. After announcing the discovery of medi-gel to your fleet, I want you to allow us to broadcast a recruitment ad. Anyone in your fleet, whether they are civilian or military, should be able to join my crew unimpeded."

This caused quite a few concerns from the Second Fleeters. "We cannot allow you to make off with essential Alliance personnel. We might be amenable to giving you low-level labor, but our officers and specialists take many years to cultivate."

"I don't need an army of specialists." Harry replied, conceding a little ground. Besides, he didn't want more officers in his crew either. The more competent they were, the more likely they could succeed in deposing him. "I need fit men and women. I don't care about their qualifications, but I do need at least two specialists. First, a fully qualified doctor. Not a nurse, but a doctor. Second, I want a pilot who can handle the _Cerberus_ sufficiently."

"The pilot, we may be able to part with. But medical doctors are a rare talent, and it is too much for you to-"

"Is anything too much for medi-gel? Give me my doctor, or the deal is off."

Harry didn't say anything more, knowing that the negotiators eventually had to concede. After a private discussion with the base commander of the outpost, Bergensen finally threw up his hands. "Very well, Captain Potter. You will have your doctor."

After that, Jacob took over the negotiations. As the armory officer, he knew exactly what kind of equipment and goods the _Cerberus_ needed the most. He asked for fuel, weaponry, software, provisions, a few luxury items, and most peculiar of all, databases and intelligence."

Bergensen stepped down his foot at that point. "Absolutely not. Our fleet's combined intelligence is a sensitive resource that will lose its value once too many people have access to it. What if the Batarians capture your ship? They will find a treasure trove of information that will negate many decades of effort. You may ask us for supplies, but not for information."

Still, Jacob managed to drag out a promise of providing a list of listening posts for all the five fleets. Of course, they won't hand them a list of all known listening posts, just one for each Remnant.

After finalizing the details, Harry and Bergensen shook hands. The Second Fleeter had a rueful expression, as if he dreaded what would happen once he left the _Cerberus_. "You are a shrewd negotiator, Captain Potter. Our fleet will pay a significant price for the privilege of obtaining this medi-gel first."

"Well if you wanted it for free, then you should have sent a ship to the Paragon System yourselves." Harry taunted back, but with a smile. "The _SSV Cerberus_ exists to do the jobs the Alliance won't. We try to prove that even a single ship like ours can make a difference."

"I can't say if you're crazy or not, but I hope you continue in your mission. God knows we need to be more proactive."

* * *

After Bergensen and Hauptmann boarded their shuttle and returned to the listening post, the _Cerberus_ waited for two hours until they received an answer. After a few minor modifications, the two parties eventually agreed to a definite trade.

"We are sending you coordinates to an uninhabited system where a frigate will come and wait for your arrival. Please be in the system two weeks from now in order to be escorted to the main fleet. An Alliance officer will board your ship by then and program the coordinates, so take that into account."

The channel closed, leaving the bridge silent. Harry turned to Pressly. "Have you received the coordinates?"

"Yes sir, I have. I'll have the course set in a few minutes."

"Good. Enter FTL as soon as you are able."

Harry leaned back on his chair, finding it somewhat cold and uncomfortable. _'I can't imagine captains sitting like this for hours, staring uselessly at empty screens.'_ He found navy life to be much different than he imagined. Rather than swashbuckling adventure and pitted combat, most crews spent much of their time staving off boredom. When something exciting finally did happen, more often than not they craved that lost moment of idleness.

That reminded him of one more thing. He opened a channel to Gabby but spoke loudly enough so that the rest of his bridge crew overheard him. "Engineer Daniels. In two weeks we will be meeting up with a frigate of the Second Fleet. In order to prevent foul play, I want you to construct a self-destruct mechanism around the medi-gel canisters and research data. If they threaten to board us and take our gains by force, I want to be able to blow it up. I don't trust the Second Fleet enough to take them for their word."

"Understood… sir." Gabby replied tersely. Obviously, she hadn't even considered such an option or thought a fleet was possible to stoop that low. "I'm not a demolition specialist, but I'll try."

"You better." Harry said, and considered adding an innuendo, but eventually declined to do so. Too many people were listening in. Pressly was especially hawking over him, eying him in a predatory manner. The captain wasn't very concerned about him, but he had to be discreet nonetheless. Gabby might not be the finest fuckmeat he had ever tasted, but she was quite an obedient little pet.

The girl was much different from a typical witch. Most of the time, they screamed like banshees and clung to their defiance. They were witches, gifted with magic. That gave them a sense of entitlement that caused them to look down on muggles and scum like Harry. A few rough sessions usually kept them in check but he always had to prove his dominance over them in order to prevent them from getting any bright ideas.

From what Harry had experienced so far, Gabby didn't fit that mold. He shouldn't have expected her to be as arrogant and stuck-up as the witches of his time. The engineer grew up in a rag-tag fleet that had been fleeing from an overwhelming alien force for centuries. From what the wizard understood, all fleets were effectively ruled by a single admiral. That military style of governing probably pervaded deep down the hierarchy, affecting even the civilians that huddled in the protection of that fleet.

Stated more simply, Gabby was used to taking orders. No matter how cruel and undeserved Harry treated her, she took the treatment with resigned obedience. The wizard hadn't come across many women like her, and when he usually did they were muggleborn. _'So interesting.'_

Harry wondered how far he could go before he truly broke Gabby's tolerance. He entertained several amusing fantasies, from mild ones such as collaring her to his bed to rather depraved ones such as using her mouth as his urinal. _'Hmmm I've got to try that sometime.'_

Still, he was playing on thin ice here. As long as she remained his only engineer, Harry couldn't go too far in his treatment. He also had to keep the rest of the crew from getting wind of his games. It frustrated him a little, to hold back just a tiny little bit when he really wanted to take the next step.

'_What I wouldn't give to go back to the old days.'_

Harry missed the impunity he enjoyed back before he activated the Device. As one of the most powerful battle mages in the world, there was nothing in his reach that he hadn't yet taken for himself. Money, wine, women… acquiring them was a trivial task. He merely had to swish his wand a few times to swap the contents of a hundred year old vintage wine for a cheap four pound bottle from the local supermarket. Nothing could stop him from taking anything he wanted, because who was there to resist him? The Wizarding World cowered in his presence, while the muggles had no idea he existed.

All of that was lost now. If Harry ever hoped to live the high life again, he'd have to build up his own fortune. All of this idealistic drivel about saving humanity and fighting the good fight honestly didn't matter to him all that much. Sure, he wanted to forge a world with him on top, and defeating the Batarians was a good first step on that road. Yet in his heart, Harry considered himself a wizard first, and a human second. While he loved to take big gambles, he wasn't suicidal. Every choice he made so far ultimately advanced his interests.

'_Charity is for the weak. Mercy is for the pitiful.'_

The old Wizarding World was a corrupt monstrosity that needed to be culled from the world. Whether the Systems Alliance Remnant was beyond saving, Harry was still undecided. He knew next to nothing about the Remnant fleets that scurried like rats from the relentless Batarian pursuit. That was one of the reasons why he demanded to visit the Second Fleet. He had seen humanity at its lowest in the Batarian mining camp. He had witnessed the fallen glory of mankind at its height. Now, in the coming weeks, Harry received the opportunity to judge the race of man in its current state.

Whether they were worthy of his respect remained to be seen.

* * *

**End Notes:** Speaking of XCOM, I've been thinking of writing a fic about the game. The story scenes aren't all that fleshed out and we hardly get a deeper understanding of the characters.


	15. I: Taking the Stage

October 18, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** No comment.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_Taking the Stage_

* * *

"So glad you could be here." Pressly said sarcastically as Jacob arrived late to their private meeting. "I'd appreciate it if you come on time."

Jacob tried not to get into an argument with the executive officer. "Harry kept me working on the security measures for the medi-gel samples. He's.. determined to make the system unhackable."

That caused Ashley to raise her eyebrow? "Unhackable? There's no such thing as unhackable. The best we can do is to keep hackers occupied as long as possible, and I know for sure we don't have the required gear."

"That's where things get interesting. He's tasked Chief Daniels to develop a _mechanical_ security system."

This baffled his two comrades. "What do you mean by mechanical…?"

The armory officer appeared strained. "We've been fumbling around with rudimentary traps like trip-wires and pressure plates."

"That's.. that's extreme. What the hell is Captain Potter thinking?!"

"To be honest, I think some of it might help. The _Cerberus_ is a civilian ship and doesn't possess security systems that are robust enough to withstand any significant level of hacking. Most of the traps aren't meant to stop intruders, because Harry knows it's a lost cause. He intends to construct a self-destruct mechanism that will automatically destroy all the materials when anyone activates a trigger."

"Hmmm…" Pressly mulled over Jacob's report. "That's.. not very reassuring. How sensitive are the triggers to turbulence and battle damage?"

Lieutenant Taylor's expression told him all he needed to know. "Captain Potter even designed triggers for that. He wants to guard against an attack by the frigate that is supposed to escort us to the Second Fleet."

"How crazy can he go? Doesn't he realize how many hazards space travel involves? If we inadvertently end up in an asteroid field of dust cloud, he will risk the only achievement he has made so far. The captain knows nothing about the Second Fleet! They will never go back on their word."

"That's not what Harry thinks. As he sees it, we're heading right into the lair of the beast. He knows enough of naval tactics to realize that the _Cerberus_ will never be able to outfight or outrun a warship. He's holding the medi-gel hostage until the trade is finalized."

The three grumbled a bit more until Jacob put an end to the discussion. "Look, we can complain all we want about the captain's conduct, but unless we take control of the ship we will never be able to accomplish anything."

"You're helping the chief engineer design the security, right? Don't you know exactly how to disable it?"

"It won't work. I'm only an advisor to Gabrielle. She is the only one who knows the full extent of the safeguards."

The mere mention of Gabby's name peaked Ashley's interest. "Have you noticed anything odd about her so far? Anything unusual at all when she's interacting with the captain?"

"Not that much to be honest. They're cordial to each other, but I sense some distance between them. Gabrielle spends most of her time alone in engineering."

"I was afraid of that." Ashley sighed. "I've tried to talk to her during our off shifts, but I think she's a little intimidated by me. The only people she interacts with in her off-time is with the brainy people like Specialist Traynor."

"They're both smart women. I'm not surprised they get along well considering their common interests." Jacob turned to Pressly. "Charles, isn't Traynor a First Fleeter like you?"

He nodded, but didn't have much to say. "She is, but the First Fleet is big. There's an incredible amount of distance between an officer like me and a promising young specialist like her. I've also been out of the loop for over two decades."

"So we're pretty much getting nowhere." Ashley concluded dourly. "To be honest, I don't even know why we're still gathering here like this. Harry has firmly earned much of the crew's loyalty. There's hardly anyone besides us who still has an appetite for mutiny."

This didn't surprise Jacob the least, but Pressly was a different matter. The old, balding man found it excruciatingly difficult to accept an adolescent hooligan to the prestigious position of captain. Much of the Systems Alliance Remnant revolved around spaceships. Those who ascended to become a captain needed to prove themselves in all manner of qualifications, from technical aptitude, to tactical knowledge, to leadership ability. In Pressly's eyes, Harry was an abject failure compared to the great figures in his fleet who received the privilege of commanding a ship after decades of unflinching service.

The navigator turned an accusing eye towards his companions. "You are both fools for thinking Captain Harry is unassailable. He's a child! He'll make a mistake eventually, mark my words, and we'd better be ready to rescue the _Cerberus_ from disaster when that happens."

The conspirators parted with uneasy terms. Pressly silently accused Jacob and Ashley for losing sight of their eventual goal. He detested their weak-willed nature. While Ashley radiated outward strength, she was a follower at heart. Jacob was much the same, and had a tendency to see only the good in other people.

This could not be allowed to continue, yet Pressly had to admit that he did not inspire much charisma. _'Even though I'm the executive officer running all the nuts and bolts of the ship, it's Captain Harry who hogs all the glory.'_

It wasn't fair. Without his experienced and measured management, Harry's private little ship would have quickly fallen apart. As Pressly prepared for bed, he continued to glower at his misfortune.

* * *

In an unremarkable system centered around a red giant star, a ship emerged from FTL travel. The _SSV Cerberus_, who arrived a few days earlier in the system, immediately went into full alert.

"Tell me about the new arrival." Harry ordered as he buttoned up his shirt and sat down on his seat in the bridge.

"The sensor silhouette indicates that it's a Batarian frigate."

"Any sign of allegiance?"

"Unknown sir." Traynor replied as she worked furiously to gather more data. "The frigate is running silent. I'm hailing them but they're not answering yet."

"I don't like this Pressly. Make sure you're able to bug out as soon as I say the word."

"I've already taken that contingency into account." The navigator sneered back.

The crew of the _Cerberus_ waited for three anxious minutes as the frigate kept drifting in space. Just as Harry was about to order his ship to leave, they finally received a reply.

"This is Captain Pendleton of the Systems Alliance Frigate _SSV Shibuya_, of the Second Fleet. Please confirm your identity."

Specialist Traynor gestured to her captain, indicating that he should reply personally. He activated the comm channel and spoke. "I'm Captain Harry Potter of the _SSV Cerberus_. We're uh.. not part of any fleet."

Their reply took a while to get back. "We have received your identification. Please maintain your current course. A shuttle bearing one of our liaisons will dock with your vessel promptly by shuttle. He will independently confirm the authenticity of the medi-gel and pass on the coordinates to the Second Fleet. Goodbye."

Harry frowned at the abrupt dismissal. "Pendleton sounds like he doesn't believe we're serious."

No one offered a comment to that remark.

"Oh well. I'll go prepare to meet this liaison. Inform me when the shuttle arrives."

After half an hour of floating around in space, something finally withdrew from the hold of the frigate. The small shuttle quickly traversed the short distance between the two ships and soon mated its airlock with _Cerberus_' outer hatch. Harry waited on the other side of the hatch alone this time, since there was no need to bring Jacob along this time to take care of the boring details.

A single figure stepped in the decontamination chamber. After the standard scans are over, the inner hatch opened, revealing a sharply dressed officer. Harry slyly noted that the visitor discretely scanned the environment of any threats before focusing his attention on Harry. He halted a little when he saw Harry's civilian suit, his arm already half-way towards a salute.

'_Huh. He doesn't look like a shifty guy.'_

"A pleasure to meet you." Harry greeted him politely, and saved him from an embarrassment by offering his hand. The officer eagerly accepted it. "I'm Captain Harry Potter of the _SSV Cerberus_."

"Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko of the Second Fleet." The sharp-haired man answered with a mild tone. "I've been assigned as your liaison for the duration of your interaction with our fleet."

After the pleasantries were over, Harry led him to a familiar compartment where he had a small sample of medi-gel ready. After Alenko relinquished his omni-tool and cut himself with a knife, Gabby poured the sample over the wound.

"This.. this is incredible. Instant cellular regeneration. What is the extent of medi-gel's healing properties?"

"They knit back damaged tissue and stop bleeding wounds." Gabby explained. "As far as I can understand, the bacteria that make up the medi-gel restore the body to its original state. It won't generate new cells however, so it can't generate new limbs. Birth defects inherent to the body are also unaffected."

"I see.." Lieutenant Alenko muttered disappointedly. "So its main application is limited to critical physical injuries where conventional treatment is too low."

"It helps that you don't need medical training in order to apply medi-gel in the battlefield."

Alenko grunted. "That's still true, captain. This invention will save many lives. We won't win the war against the Batarians in one day. We all have to muddle through one step at a time."

That sounded like a depressingly timid mindset. Harry pitied Alenko and his fellow humans. _'If they've muddled through like this for over two centuries, how long will it take until they reach the end of the road?'_

"Now that you're satisfied we're not pulling your legs, how about we start to get moving?"

"Very well. I'll upload the first coordinates to your nav computer so that you can plot your course. Be aware that we are taking an indirect route to the projected location of the Second Fleet."

Harry frowned at that news. "That will waste a lot of fuel."

"We can't risk leading spies to the fleet." Alenko responded apologetically, and then looked a bit oddly at Harry, as if scrutinizing his youth. "This is standard operating procedure throughout the fleets. No one ever travels to them directly. They either take a roundabout route, or head to a future destination and wait for a couple of months."

'_God, what a waste of time.'_ Harry thought, though he kept it to himself. Alenko was looking at him with a familiar expression, the one where he began to doubt Harry was a real captain.

"Let's head to the bridge." Harry grumbled.

After making sure Alenko's wound was cleaned up, they headed to the bridge where Lieutenant Alenko typed in a long set of numbers from memory. Pressly interpreted the coordinates immediately.

"Destination set. Lieutenant Alenko, will the _Shibuya_ match our speed or wait for us at the exit?"

"We're aware of your ship class' FTL capability and we've adjusted accordingly." The Second Fleeter responded with a little wariness as he regarded Pressly's uniform. For some reason, Alenko found something about Pressly that he didn't like. He still had a job to do, though, and maintained his professionalism.

"The _Shibuya_ will arrive in the system slightly earlier than the _Cerberus_ in order to scout the system and check for traps."

"Very well. What about…"

The two Alliance officers soon engaged in a highly technical discussion that utterly confused Harry. Still, seeing as the situation was well at hand, he let them be.

* * *

Alenko said that they had several weeks of travel ahead of them. He was never precise about the details and refused to reveal the entire course to anyone. Besides his tight-lipped nature, the guest behaved scrupulously well during his stay on the _Cerberus_.

In fact, Harry found that his worries of a plot to steal his medi-gel pass after each passing day. Still, Harry kept the numerous security measures in place. _'It can't hurt to be careful.'_

While Kaidan kept himself out of the way of regular ship activities, he did seem to be curious about the crew that manned the ship. As he wasn't assigned any station on the ship, he pretty much passed the time by inspecting the non-restricted compartments and chatting with any off-duty personnel available. Harry spoke to him a few times as well, though he didn't really feel it was a two-way street.

'_Lieutenant Alenko is fishing for information.' _Harry concluded as most of his questions concerning the Second Fleet were skillfully diverted to vague anecdotes and other distractions.

The captain had to get his answers elsewhere. Unfortunately, the only Second Fleeter serving under him was Ashley Williams. Since Harry's relationship with her was still a little testy, he decided to direct his questions to someone friendlier.

"Samantha," Harry started as he took a sip of genuine coffee. "Can you tell me anything about the Second Fleet?"

She looked up, surprised. "Sir, shouldn't you be asking Lieutenant Williams?"

"I prefer to solicit an impartial opinion."

"Then I'm afraid you're asking the wrong woman." Traynor said sardonically. "I'm a First Fleeter."

"..So?"

She raised her eyebrow then. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

Traynor sighed and set down her steaming cup. "This is a bit contentious and not an easy subject for us. Have you heard how the war had ended?"

It took a few seconds to form his thoughts. "The Batarians gathered the majority of their mobile forces and assaulted the Sol System. They easily breezed past the outer defenses and threatened Earth itself. The First Fleet – your fleet – opted to flee and escort as many civilians as they could rather than make a doomed last stand."

Carefully, Traynor regarded her captain, and asked, "Do you think we made the right choice?"

Harry started to glean the source of the tension. "About the retreat? That's not for me to judge. It happened a long time ago, and I don't have nearly enough information to make a judgment."

While she wasn't entirely satisfied with his answer, she let it be and nodded. "Not everyone is as reserved as you, sir. You see, the ships which fought to delay the Batarians from reaching Earth were primarily comprised of the Second Fleet. They.. sacrificed a lot of ships. It was awful. At that time, we didn't have widespread mass accelerator or kinetic barrier technology. Ours warships were a joke compared to their Batarian counterparts. Nukes were the only weapons we had which could put a dent in their shields and armor, but we just didn't have enough. The Second Fleet relied on desperate measures in order to buy more time."

"What kind of measures?"

"Whatever worked. Ramming, reactor detonations, the works. They didn't hesitate, believing that their sacrifice would give the First Fleet better odds."

"I see.." Harry got it. "So when your fleet ran, the Second Fleeters were pretty pissed off."

"That's putting it lightly." Samantha responded with a mild smile. "Relationships between the First and Second have deteriorated ever since. It doesn't help that the First Fleet is currently the largest human fleet by far, while the Second Fleet is undisputedly the smallest."

That caused Harry to frown. "It would have been helpful if you told me that from the start. No wonder they're so stingy in their trades."

"Sir, speaking personally, the Second Fleet needs every help they can get. I stayed on the _Cerberus_ precisely because I want to bridge our differences."

"We could have made a better difference if I was able to bargain a frigate or two." Harry grumbled, though he understood Traynor's point. He didn't like it, but he had to play along if he wanted to keep the crew's support. "But back to the matter. What do you know about the Second Fleet as it is today?"

"Not that much." She admitted. "Sure, when I was still in the First Fleet we exchanged rumors, but generally we go out of our way to avoid the Seconds. They're a fairly small fleet, in any case. I doubt they have more than fifty mass effect warships in their main fleet, and less than ten of them are larger than a frigate. They probably cannibalized most of their non-Mass Effect capable warships by now for parts in order to sustain their civilian fleets."

"Is fifty a lot?"

"Compared to our other fleets? Not at all, but it's more than enough to fend off Batarian scouting probes before they can call in a retaliation fleet."

Traynor filled him in with any other details she managed to recall. She painted a shabby picture of the once-proud fleet. Their plight sounded hard and arduous. Rusted ships, cramped living conditions, a constant shortage of resources; in short, they never really enjoyed a break. This fostered a bitter and desperate sentiment between the survivors. They trusted no one except themselves, and preferred to make their own way in life.

At least, that was what Traynor claimed. Whether any of this was true remained to be seen, though much of it made sense.

This made Harry question Alenko's motives even more. For all his outward politeness, the staff lieutenant was awfully curious about the ship. But as long as he refrained from sabotage or other unsavory activities, Harry was powerless to put a stop to his search. He drained his coffee and stood up. Perhaps Gabby could relieve his stress.

After three-and-a-half weeks and numerous jumps in different directions, Alenko informed the crew that the Second Fleet was just a day away. This was the day when the Second Fleeter broached the subject which Harry feared to discuss.

"I've heard from all the crewmen that you're a biotic. Is that true?"

Harry nodded guardedly, not expecting this conversation to be over so easily.

"Can you demonstrate your powers for me?"

Now this was really getting into the thick of it. "I don't see how that's any of your business. I don't answer to your fleet."

"Ah, my apologies. I am just interested in your abilities in a professional way. I have.. worked.. with biotic soldiers before." Kaidan shifted the topic. "I've heard that you are still able to use your biotic abilities even after the Batarians stripped your implants. Is that true?"

"Yeah."

"But that's impossible. There have been no cases in our history where biotics were able to express their abilities after their implants have been damaged and removed." The lieutenant stared at him with deep interest. "How have you able to keep your powers?"

'_Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_ Harry berated himself. He should have really read up more about how biotics worked before he pretended to be one. Now this apparent expert in biotics was stripping away all the lies he had carefully built up.

"That's for me to know and for you to get the fuck out of my business." He warned, and pushed Kaidan rudely from his path and stormed his way to his quarters.

The more he learned about the Second Fleet, the more apprehensive he became. They were wary against outsiders and tended to limit their trade to other parties. Now, the _Cerberus_ was heading straight into the den on a slow, fat tub with armor as good as cardboard. Only the preventive measures he put in place around his stash of medi-gel provided some form of protection. _'As long as they haven't completed the trade, they'll have to play nice.'_

That meant that after he exchanged the medi-gel, he better get the heck out of there.

He went to bed with a heavy mind, half-dreading and half-anticipating the novelties he would witness tomorrow.

* * *

The moment the _Cerberus_ disengaged her FTL, her sensors went overboard.

"Detecting hundreds of heat signatures!"

As the overworked processors labored to make sense of the deluge of raw data, the main screen slowly overlaid the frontal view with an overlay, highlighting the numerous ships that make part of the Second Fleet.

The first thing Harry noticed was that it was massive. The armada consisted of several formations of twenty to forty ships, all of them of significant size. Their diverse shapes also became more visible as the _Cerberus_' sensors were able to provide higher detail. He saw passenger ships as large as the Empire State Building and industrial vessels that resembled fortresses more than ships. The squadrons of warships that patrolled the perimeter of the fleet were no less threatening.

Besides the myriad of frigates and the occasional cruiser, the center of the fleet was undisputedly the massive dreadnought, Batarian in origin, but heavily modified by human technology over the years.

"That's the _SSV Mt. Fuji_, the flagship of the Second Fleet." Kaidan explained with visible pride. "The _Fuji_ is almost nine-hundred meters long and possesses over a 140 mass accelerator cannons."

From all the protrusions bristling from the _Fuji_'s broadsides, Harry was inclined to believe him. The dreadnought was an absolute beast. Even one of those 140 cannons could tear the _Cerberus_ apart. The wizard had to treat lightly in the Second Fleet's territory if he wanted to escape with his hide intact.

Still, it was not the dreadnought that had the capability to stop the _Cerberus_. That task was left to the faster, nimbler frigates. Already he could see that Alenko's coordinates had deposited him in an exposed position, with patrols surrounding him from multiple directions.

"What now?"

"Your arrival is expected. As soon as they confirm the _Cerberus _isn't carrying anything dangerous, you should be receiving a message very soon."

Sure enough, Traynor received an inbound message. "Sir, I've received a set of coordinates. Passing them on to Pressly."

The navigator took one look at the data and almost jumped out of his seat. "Captain, the Second Fleet wants us to dock right next to their dreadnought!"

"What?!" Harry immediately turned to Lieutenant Alenko. "What is the meaning of this?"

Kaidan tried to soothe their apprehension. "They probably think that medi-gel is too precious to hand over to another ship. The admiral probably wants to keep it right under his nose."

It made sense, and Harry gestured his subordinates to continue working. He mulled over the news. He let the _Cerberus_ sail right next to the gigantic _Fuji_, as none of them had any other choice. Besides, he did not think this order was meant to be threatening. Intimidating, perhaps, but not an intent to hijack his ship or steal his medi-gel. Any frigate could have done the same job with a hundred times less collateral damage. A dreadnought was massively overkill in that regard.

He kept that thought as Pressly smoothly approached the _Fuji_. It didn't help that the guns grew larger with each passing kilometer. More sensor data streamed in, revealing the extensive modifications the Second Fleeters have installed on what looked to be a Batarian capital ship. Most of the modifications were in the way of armor and new compartments. Most notable among these additions were the numerous missile batteries dotting her armored surface. Evidently, the Second Fleeters couldn't get enough of overkill.

"We're approaching the docking coordinates."

"The _Fuji_ is extending a gangway. Her captain wants us to stay stationary relative to his ship. They will handle the micro-correction."

"Roger that. I'm holding position."

Slowly, the foldable gangway extended itself to its full length, and with minute and delicate aiming, the end of the tunnel managed to mate with the passenger hatch of the _Cerberus_.

"Confirming lock. The gangway has mated with our hatch. Docking has been completed."

"Well captain, shall we enter the _Fuji_?" Alenko offered. "Be sure to bring the medi-gel along. We'll complete the trade there."

Nodding, Harry stood up from his seat. "Give me half an hour to pack it in. Be sure to prepare your end of the deal."

His guest checked his omni-tool, which had automatically connected to the Second Fleet's communications network. "All the physical barter is already loaded in and will be dispatched to you by cargo shuttles. As for your other request.. well.. that can be arranged on the flagship."

"You better."

Harry left the bridge and entered the guarded compartment where his valuable treasure was stashed up. He neatly deactivated or evaded the traps that Gabby had installed, and retrieved a tiny pre-prepared sample of medi-gel along with a data chip containing all the relevant research data. He put them inside a small specialized briefcase which Gabby had also designed and locked it in, priming the explosive charge. If anything should happen, all of the contents would be burned to cinder.

After resetting all of the traps, Harry left the compartment and joined Kaidan at the passenger hatch. He nodded curtly, and they both entered the decontamination chamber. After being sterilized of all germs, the outer hatch opened, revealing the lengthy walkway towards the dreadnought.

They both pressed forward, and traversed the long and empty tunnel. The structure didn't have any windows, giving Harry the illusion that he was walking on solid ground. In truth, he was in a long and flimsy tunnel in space, held together by the mutual trajectory of the _Fuji_ and the _Cerberus_. Should any the ships move out of alignment, the changes threatened the stability of the gangway and might rupture it entirely, dumping both Harry and Kaiden out in space. Since they were both wearing formal fabrics, they had little protection against the harsh vacuum.

It felt like he was walking to an execution. The stifling tunnels and the lack of windows blinded Harry. He couldn't be more glad when he finally reached the end of the gangway. After entering the much more spacious decontamination chamber, both men were thoroughly cleaned and sanitized of any germs. The hatch opened then, revealing a modest welcoming committee.

Kaidan saluted the highly decorated officer in front of him. "Admiral Mikhailovich, this is Captain Harry Potter."

"Ah yes.." The stern man said, eying the civilian with dispassionate eyes and found much at fault. "I have read the reports."

'_It's nice meeting you too.'_ Harry grumbled as he silently noted the four heavily-armed guards.

"I have prepared a conference room for your arrival. This way please."

Without another word, the Admiral turned on his heel and marched deeper into the bowels of the ship. Kaiden shrugged apologetically and herded Harry forward. While Harry saw little of the ship except for spacious corridors and busy personnel, the sheer size of the vessel was a wonder in itself. _'How many dreadnoughts do the Batarians have? And how on Earth did the Second Fleet manage to snatch one right from under their stinking noses?'_

From what he learned in his tutoring sessions, huge capital ships were always surrounded by swarms of smaller ships. If the Second Fleet was as small as everyone suggested, then they were probably no match against a Batarian battle fleet. _'Could they have taken the ship when it was in maintenance? I can't imagine the Batarians letting up on security if that was the case.'_

When they reached the conference room, Harry put the issue aside. He startled somewhat and backed against Kaidan's chest when he saw the conference chamber was packed with many officers. If he read the insignia right, they were all captains.

The admiral smirked at the boy. "You wanted an audience, well now you've got it." The old man then gestured to the camera equipment pointed towards the center of a podium. "You can address the fleet after I finish my address."

As Mikhailovich took the stage, Kaiden led Harry to a seat at the side. The wizard took his seat with apprehension, all the while aware that hundreds of pairs of eyes were directed towards him. Only when their leader began his address did attention shift away from the young captain.

'_What the fuck is this media circus all about? I didn't ask for all this pomp.'_

"Captains, officers, spacers of the Second Fleet. Today is a momentous day. Today is a day when the momentum shifts. From the day we have been betrayed the treacherous First Fleet, we subsided off the scraps of stronger powers. No longer! Ever since I took over the admiralty, I knew that this pattern of would end with our defeat. By continuing to run and hide, we perpetuate the tactics that stave off extinction, but provide no avenue for victory. The enemy is great, but the aliens are not immortal. With honor, courage and sacrifice, ideals which sustain our fleet against all odds, I have decided to change the course of our fleet, and implement a radical new initiative."

The admiral gestured towards Harry, and all of the cameras shifted their focus to him. "Captain Potter of the _SSV Cerberus_ is the proof that my concept works. Unlike all other Remnant Fleets, I have ordered the _Cerberus_ to do something that no other admiral dared to do. Instead of travelling away from Batarian Space, I have ordered him to go right into the heart of their territory, and take back the lost treasures of our great and might civilization. Against all odds, Captain Potter has faced many dangers, but returned successfully with a gift that will change the nature of war. Medi-gel."

The admiral explained what medi-gel was and how it worked. But Harry wasn't listening anymore. He was furious. _'What kind of crap is this Mikhailovich pulling?!'_ He didn't know why the admiral lied through his teeth, but Harry couldn't let this charade go further. He stood up and started to open his mouth, but suddenly a wave of force pressed him down and stifled his mouth.

'_I can't.. move!'_

"Sit down, Captain Potter." Kaidan instructed him as he laid a glowing hand on his chest. "Let the admiral finish his speech. I apologize for the underhandedness of it all, but I promise you that it will benefit us both if you cooperate."

The invisible biotic pressure continued to shackle Harry and keep his body stiff. No matter how much strength he put in his arms or legs, he just couldn't break through this barrier.

'_I can't.. move. I don't have any weapon on me.. The only way.. to free myself..'_

Was magic. But was it in his best interest to reveal his hidden magic? _'No. With this biotic next to me, he'll detect that something is off. I can't expose myself in the middle of this press conference.'_

So with gritted teeth, Harry stayed put, letting Admiral Mikhailovich dictate the truth to the clueless Second Fleet. How could he have fallen so hard for this trap? He knew Kaidan snooped too much on his ship but Harry never realized the depth of the Second Fleet's capriciousness. Now he was paying the price.

The admiral wrapped up his speech. "In light of the incredible success of my initiative, I am announcing the creation of the Cerberus Task Force, a new irregular special operations unit that will specialize in high-risk retrieval and sabotage operations. Recruitment details will be forthcoming. From this day onwards, we shall no longer let the Batarians do as they want, because today, WE. FIGHT. BACK!"

All of the captains stood up and clapped. All of the hovering camera units gleefully recorded all of the enthusiasm and broadcast it right to the rest of the fleet. Harry meanwhile kept his sit, glowering at this unexpected turn of events. Mikhailovich paused in his smile and sent a pointed look at the young captain. As the clapping waned, the admiral left the podium and approached his restrained guest.

The biotic pressure disappeared at that moment, allowing Harry to stand up and face Mikhailovich on an even height. "You.. motherfucker.."

"Now now Captain Harry, that is not an appropriate way to address your superior. You are a Systems Alliance officer now. You better familiarize yourself with the protocol."

"I don't want to become part of your stinking fleet." Harry growled back, ignoring the admiral's words. "You know that I can blow up the medi-gel with one press of the button, right?"

"But you won't. If anything goes wrong, it is not I who will receive the blame. Think carefully on your options, son."

Harry hated it when others called him son. _'Fuck you, dickhead. I'm older than you.'_ Still, the admiral made a good point, however distasteful Harry found his words. He averted his eyes, but nodded stiffly, satisfying the leader. Mikhailovich clapped his back and pushed him onwards.

"Go ahead and address my people. You deserve some recognition. Isn't that what you asked?"

He did, but not like this. By speaking first, the admiral hogged much of the credit to himself, leaving Harry with very little space for maneuver. Still, the admiral offered him a podium, and Harry planned to exploit it to the fullest. He straightened his back and marched to the podium as if he knew what he was doing. As he faced the camera, he began his speech, but not without a twist.

'_Two can play this game, fuckface.'_ Harry thought, and adopted a smile to the public. "Admiral, thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead this new initiative. Citizens, as the newly appointed commander of the Cerberus Task Force, I will henceforth be in charge of the Second Fleet's most important offensive operations. Under my personal leadership, I shall lead the effort into transforming our battered force into a rock that will pound the Batarians blow by blow."

The Admiral had a noticeable tick on his face, but he refrained from interrupting Harry. He couldn't do anything while the cameras were still rolling. Still, that didn't mean that Harry could keep handing out rewards to himself. He decided to restrict his demands and refrain from claiming more drastic things.

"The Cerberus Task Force is not a regular fleet element. We are different. I am different. My Task Force shall operate under different rules and looser discipline. All we care about is advancing humanity, not maintaining outdated customs. The _SSV Cerberus_ and five of the frigates assigned to her shall shed the trappings of tradition and accept both military and civilian personnel. Merit, not seniority, shall be the only measuring stick for advancement. If you want to serve under a free regime, enlist today, and transfer to my command. Good day."

Harry left the podium under a more hesitant applause. A lot of the captains appeared confused, but the smiles that Harry and Mikhailovich maintained kept up the illusion that this was all part of a master plan. When the boy reached the conniving admiral, he was met with a hidden scowl.

"Well played captain, well played."

"What can I say? I learn quickly." Harry shrugged, and handed over the small briefcase containing the medi-gel over to his new superior. "Here you go. I hope it was worth it, boss."

They smiled in front of the cameras while shaking their hands. To the outside world, it appeared nothing was wrong. Both sides had an interest in maintaining the veil that obscured the truth. For now, at least.

Still, Harry felt majorly screwed over. Even as he acted pleasantly in the public eye, privately he was steaming with anger. _'Mikhailovich won't get away with this. I'll pay him back twice as hard no matter how long I have to wait.'_

No one fucked with Harry and got away with it. No one.

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


	16. I: A Question of Loyalty

October 20, 2012  
Not Proofread  
By RahXephon [847246]

**Author's Notes:** I went to see the new Dredd 3D movie and it was awesome. While the violence was a bit over the top, I love the setting and universe. Unlike a lot of people, I actually enjoyed the older Judge Dredd movie even though it had Rob Schneider. It's too bad both movies flopped. I'll probably have to wait another 20 years for a new flick to come out.

* * *

_**The Star Hegemony**_

_A Question of Loyalty_

* * *

The fallout from the press conference was enormous. Not only did that slime bag Admiral Mikhailovich unilaterally force Harry to become part of the Second Fleet, the wizard turned the game around and crowned himself the commander of the newly instated Cerberus Task Force. The repercussions were enormous, and almost no one was prepared.

No one was happy with the results. Mikhailovich had to deal with an insubordinate and impertinent squadron commander. Harry lost much of his operational freedom. The crew of the _SSV Cerberus_ weren't all that happy about serving a fleet different from the one they were raised. The Second Fleeters themselves were a bit baffled by Harry's civilian background and lack of military experience. While the discovery of medi-gel distracted much of the populace, a lot of long-serving officers grumbled privately why an outsider received the privilege of leading a detachment of valuable warships.

All in all, Harry gave the good admiral a lot of grief. Mikhailovich let his displeasure known to Harry in no uncertain terms.

"You filthy rogue. How dare you demand concessions from me?"

Harry sat back on a lavish seat in Mikhailovich's office. He idly looked around the opulent quarters of the head of the Second Fleet and whistled. The admiral sure enjoyed good taste. He spotted golden chandeliers, priceless Van Goghs, and was that a Picasso?

"Pay attention when I'm talking to you! You're my subordinate now."

"I'll pay attention to anything I like. I'm an irregular, remember? I'm not really sure what that entails, but I'll be damned before I salute a greasy snake like you."

"You are this close to insubordination charges." Mikhailovich snarled out, and gestured towards Kaidan, who readied his biotics.

"Is that supposed to scare me? I'm not afraid of your pet. Let's talk this out like gentlemen."

The three maintained a tense silence. Eventually, the admiral backed off, ordering Kaidan to stand down. "Fine. Let us discuss then." He took a calculative expression. "I am willing to instate you as a captain of the Second Fleet and accept you as the commander of the Cerberus Task Force if you abide by certain restrictions."

"And they are?"

"First, you take your orders from me."

"If you are ordering me to kill myself, then you can forget about it, buster."

"I shall endeavor to keep my orders lawful." The admiral reassured the boy with a half-sincere smile. "The articles of war are in effect. So long you act competently and follow my orders you have nothing to fear. But if you break them in any fashion, you will be relieved from command. Staff Lieutenant Alenko shall accompany you as your new chief of staff to.. ensure compliance."

This caused Kaidan to startle. "Sir?"

"You heard me, Alenko. Keep the good captain in line."

"Yes, sir."

The thought of having a biotic lackey following him around did not assure Harry very much. _'I might as well call him commissar.'_ Still, it appeared that the admiral did not have the power to act with impunity. He learned from his talks with Traynor and other crewmen that the fleets were notoriously rule-bound. The ancient regulations which kept the Systems Alliance disciplined still reigned today, with all the limitations that resulted from that. This was why Harry publically emphasized the informal nature of his own command. He didn't want to become a cog in the Systems Alliance machine.

"What other demands do you have, admiral?"

"Second, I will assign.. two frigates to your task force. I originally planned for five, but with this unexpected development, I do not wish to overburden your command."

Harry expected something like that. The admiral would be a fool to trust him with five ships. Granted, he was still a fool for leaving him with two of them. _'I can do a lot with two fully equipped frigates.'_

"They better be combat capable. I don't have any use for wrecks."

"Have no worries, captain. They shall be adequate for the task." The admiral had to keep up appearances, after all. As the alleged originator of the Cerberus Task Force, it would look suspicious if he did everything to sabotage the initiative. "Lastly, you freedom of movement will be restricted to the _SSV Cerberus_ for the time being. I do not want you walking around in your new frigates or the rest of my fleet."

'_Is that even legal?'_ Harry wondered, but from the serious tone he guessed he had no choice but to abide by that rule. It wasn't as if he intended to leave his ship often. Still, the order prevented him from making his home on one of his new shiny frigates.

"You understand that a lot of things can happen in combat. If the _Cerberus_ is damaged, or my presence is needed at a battlefield, I will have to leave the confines of my flagship."

"If you want to run headlong into combat, then by all means do it, captain." Mikhailovich said with a smirk. "However, be warned that if you lose or heavily damage a single ship, that there will be repercussions. Your suitability for command will definitely put into question when that happens."

Harry got the message. Screw up and damage precious fleet property, and the admiral gained enough justification to boot him from his rank and possessions. This, he realized, would be his biggest threat.

"Are you done?"

"That is all for the moment." The admiral nodded. "You will receive your new orders by the end of the week once the paperwork and crew transfers are completed."

"Just to make this clear." Harry said as he stood up and planted his fists against Mikhailovich's oak desk. "You may have pressganged me into serving you, but none of my subordinates answer to you. I will command the task force in my own way, and with my own rules. You want results? You'll get them, but not in the Systems Alliance tradition."

Harry knew just enough about the system to know that the admiral had no means to countermand this development. He had declared the task force as an irregular unit, which made it subject to fewer rules and restrictions. With this in mind, the admiral conceded this point. "As long as you fulfill your mission parameters, your autonomy stays intact."

After a bit of officialdom was taken care off, the admiral booted Harry from his office with Kaidan in tow. He walked down the corridors digesting all of the recent events, and concluded that he needed to implement changes immediately. The addition of two frigates and their accompanying complement of Second Fleeters meant that he needed to adjust his plans.

"Captain." Kaidan spoke, and took hold of Harry's arm. "You're heading in the wrong direction."

Growling aggressively, Harry yanked his arm from the soldier's grip. "Don't touch me you traitor. Lead me back to the _Cerberus_."

"Very well, sir." Alenko complied stoically, and displayed no emotion as he guided Harry out of the dreadnought and back to his flagship.

* * *

As soon as Harry returned to his home, he had to deal with a second crisis that resulted from the press conference. Virtually all of his subordinates were waiting angrily for him in the mess hall. And why wouldn't they? All of this came out of the blue. They thought that they were only here to trade with the Second Fleet, not to join up with them. For months, Harry instilled the virtues of independence as opposed to being part of a fleet in order to discourage such talk. That he did exactly opposite was construed as a gross betrayal for personal ambition.

"Sell-out!"

"I didn't sign up to this!"

"The Second Fleet is not my fleet!"

Most of the loudest people were the men, but the women were also looking concerned. Harry understood the sentiment, but the last thing he needed was a breakdown in authority. He had to nip this one in the bud.

"QUIET DOWN YOU FUCKERS!"

That sure shut up the crowd. Harry leveled a measured gaze at them, staring at each potential troublemaker until they averted their eyes. It was an effective intimidation tactic that reinforced his dominance over their pathetic lives.

"First, let me make this clear. I did not sell you out. The good Admiral Mikhailowhatever fucking forced us to join his fleet. If we tried to run, then he probably moved to brand us as deserters and take our ship away from us. I had no choice but to play along as best I could and retain as much independence for ourselves as possible."

Harry explained the difficult decisions he made during his press conference and his meeting with the admiral. He was truthful for the most part, having no reason to lie, though he did keep some details under the rug. His men and women slowly wound down as they heard the tale, though they were still unhappy with their new lot in life.

"What do you intend to do, captain? Will you turn us into Second Fleeters?"

"No." Harry replied emphatically. "Not in the least. That is why I demanded autonomy. If I am to lead you into battle and fight for the good of humanity, I'm not going to roll over and let the admiral dictate his terms. I will say this now: we are Cerberus. We serve the Systems Alliance as a whole, not this narrow part of her surviving forces. We will not bend our heads for an arrogant admiral who thinks he can boss us into submission. Mikhailovich thinks he has us under his thumb. The truth is very much different. It is _he_ who we have wrapped around our fingers. While he pretends to order us here and there, we will take advantage of his resources and employ them in more effective ways."

This caused his people to raise a combative cheer, though not everyone was pleased by Harry's tone.

"We're supposed to be fighting for the good of the Systems Alliance." Ashley said, interrupting her reassured colleagues and planting further doubt in their minds. "Yet you openly speak of exploiting the Second Fleet, sir. I don't want to be a part of an outfit who looks down on other branches of humanity. We need to work together, not find new ways to screw each other over."

"Lieutenant Williams." Harry began, his tone even in order to hide his displeasure. "I just explained that Admiral Mikhailovich forcefully took over the _Cerberus_. I have done nothing to offend him yet he repays us by taking away our freedom. Is that a person who you want to serve under? Is that someone who you trust to keep you alive?"

His point hit them deep. While Ashley instinctively wanted to defend the admiral, the others were thoroughly swayed by his words. Harry had them now, right where he wanted.

"We trust those who respect us. We do not place our lives in the hands of a borderline tyrant who ignores the rules at his convenience. We will play along for now, but when the admiral takes a step too far, he is unworthy of our service. Remember this, and keep it to heart. Dismissed."

Much of the anger against him had dissipated by now. The risk of mutiny had been minimized. Still, Harry had to maintain a careful balancing act from now on. He had to keep his men loyal to him while not appearing to go against Admiral Mikhailovich's authority.

'_I've got my work cut out for me.'_ Harry thought, and headed to his office quarters to begin the first stages of planning.

* * *

The readjustment took a lot of work. First, the _Cerberus_ herself had to undergo modifications in order to perform up to standard. The Second Fleet possessed quite a bit of proprietary technology that enhanced the existing capabilities of the Batarian hauler. While some upgrades such as an improved navigation computer with pre-programmed coordinates were free, Harry had to bargain away much of his cargo in order to obtain more substantial improvements such as stronger kinetic barriers.

'_Seems like it's still every captain for himself.'_ Harry observed from the way other captains demanded favors or goods for every service.

For weeks, the _SSV Cerberus_ was docked at a mobile drydock while dozens of technicians ripped out obsolete parts and replaced them with human-fabricated equipment. Much of the work was too complicated for Harry's regular crew to help, so he assigned them to other tasks.

While Mikhailovich forbade Harry from leaving the _Cerberus_, the rest of his subordinates were free to move about in the public areas of the fleet. The wizard methodically spread them about the civilian ships. They were tasked with gathering intelligence and help with recruitment. Even if Harry had little faith in them, just letting his men and women mingle with the crowd would help with exposure.

Mikhailovich was very clear in one matter: Harry would get his frigates, but not the crew required to operate them. Harry had to attract qualified personnel on his own initiative, a task that proved to be quite challenging. Oh sure, he received a lot of applicants. Unfortunately, most of them were little more than low-skilled labor and losers stuck in dead-end jobs. If Harry wanted to make a strong start with his task force, then he needed genuine talent.

"Something needs to change quickly, and soon." Harry announced to his assembled command personnel, keeping an especially close eye on Alenko. "The good admiral informed me if my task force isn't up to strength in two weeks, he'll replace me. I don't intend to let that happen."

The officers looked at him uncertainly, as if knowing he had something drastic in mind. "What are your plans, captain?"

"I'll show you." Harry smirked, and beckoned Gabby to come closer. "Come here, Daniels."

The woman nervously stood up and walked along the table until she came up to Harry. "Is there anything you need, sir?"

"Oh, lots." He said, then leaned up to grab Gabby and pulled her down into a sloppy kiss. Everyone was shocked speechless as the engineer squirmed in Harry's possessive grasp.

"What.. what is the meaning of this?!" Ashley stammered, shocked at the brazen display of affection.

After a few seconds of sucking Gabby's mouth, Harry withdrew and forced his little slave on his lap. He kept his hands firmly on her waist, silently telling her not to make a move.

"According to Alliance regs, fraternization is something of a taboo, is it not?"

"Correct, sir." Jacob answered haltingly as he still tried to figure out his captain's ploy. "Intimate relationships between serving Alliance personnel are prohibited in many cases, particularly when they are serving on the same ship."

"I plan to do away with that rule." Harry stated as he tweaked Gabby's smooth stomach in an affectionate way. "We're not going to be a stiff military outfit. I want the Cerberus Task Force to be a cohesive family, not a heartless machine. From now on, all the rules on fraternization will be off the books. I'll bet a lot more talented people will jump at joining me once I've advertised this throughout the entire fleet."

Almost everyone else in the conference room still appeared aghast at the suggestion. Kaidan was the first person to make an objection.

"Captain Potter, Admiral Mikhailovich will not approve of this deliberate violation of the Systems Alliance Navy Code."

"I don't give a rats ass what my dear admiral thinks. Cerberus is an irregular outfit. I may not be very well versed in Alliance regulations, but I am pretty sure that every dictionary defines 'irregular' as different." Harry waved at Kaidan dismissively. "Go back to your master like a fucking dog and whine if you want. I don't care what he says and I doubt he'll kick up a fuss on this trivial issue."

While Kaidan backed off, others were still not subdued. Pressly slammed the table with his palm. "You don't know anything, Potter! Those rules have been in place for so long because they _work_. Servicemen need to rely on each other in the heat of battle as brothers in arms. These kinds of emotions will only get in the way of performance."

Jacob also had something to add. "With all due respect Harry, relationships between people of different ranks in the same hierarchy is inappropriate." He looked a little accusingly at both Gabby and Harry. "Organizations tend to show debilitating cases of favoritism due to these developments."

They both made good points, Harry privately conceded. Just thinking back on the old and corrupt Ministry of Magic was enough of an example for him. That rotten organization had become a virtual mafia over the years, with high-placed families doling out prestigious positions to each other for money and favors. Yet despite these long-term issues, Harry didn't really give a shit. He had managed to gain command of a task force but had way too few volunteers to crew his new assets. He needed to fill up his ships immediately before he could think about anything else.

Besides, instituting this change meant that he could stop hiding his relationship with Gabby. Instead of sneaking her into his quarters for another romp, he could simply call her over intercom. He really couldn't care less about the gossip that would undoubtedly result from the revelation of his attachment to Gabby, as long as he could fuck whenever he wanted. Getting a second or a third girl might pose a bigger problem, though. _'It doesn't appear that these people are open to polygamy.'_ He sighed at that. _'What a wonderful future, whoopee.'_

"Alright, if everyone is done with the complaints, let's get to work. I've got a lot in store for the Cerberus Task Force, and I need all of you to work to make it happen."

Harry handed out assignments to each of his officers. "Pressly, you're in charge of the paint job. I don't like the drab grey colors the Second Fleet coated the frigates, and I think the _SSV Cerberus_ herself can use a change of color from that boring Batarian black."

"Sir.." Pressly began, appearing very troubled by his captain's request. "We have more pressing priorities to address. Surely we can push the matter aside until-"

"No." Harry interrupted the navigator. "We're not putting it aside. The paintjob is important. It distinguishes us and puts us apart from the Second Fleet. Image is important, Pressly. Get to work on it. I've mailed you some notes on how they should look like."

"It's going to cost us a lot of barter. It's not cheap to get a hold of emissions-dampening coating, sir."

"We still got plenty of stuff to trade. The cost won't be a problem." Harry then turned to his next request. "Jacob, you're a people person, so you're in charge of recruitment. I don't care what kind of people you bring in, so long they are actually any good in what they do. That, and obey orders, of course. Keep an eye out for doctors and scientists, and go over every officer applicant with me. I don't want a complete stranger captaining my frigates."

The former Corsair nodded. "Understood, sir."

"Hmm.. what else did I have in mind.." The young captain mumbled, and as Gabby fidgeted on his lap he remember. "Oh, Chief Daniels, I've got a job for you. I want you to find some way of installing the anti-air cannons we nicked from the Batarians onto the _Cerberus_. I don't want her to be a defenseless tub."

The engineer found it difficult to accept her orders. "Sir, the ship doesn't have the hull strength or the power matrix to support those guns. Transport ships aren't robust enough to handle the stresses."

"I don't believe that, Gabby. The Second Fleet has a lot of civilian ships and one out of five has a makeshift gun welded to their hulls. We're still in a drydock, so why don't you go out and ask the maintenance techs to figure it out?"

She hadn't thought of that. "I'll do as you suggested."

"Good." He had one more task to dole out to Ashley in order to keep the troublemaker busy. "Williams, I'm putting you in charge of our marine forces. You've done a decent job whipping up my mining slaves, but they turn into wimps as soon as they meet gunfire. Go work together with Jacob to recruit some solid fighting men. I anticipate we'll be doing a lot of boarding and ground assaults, so be sure to get a wide variety. I want snipers, machine gunners, field medics, and people who can shoot fireballs from their omni-tools."

"Combat engineers."

"Yeah, engineers like Gabby over here." Harry playfully slapped her arse, earning a yelp from his victim and another scandalous look from his subordinates. "She's wizard with tools, if you know what I mean."

The meeting quickly ended after that. Even Kaidan marched out of the chamber with a disgusted look.

'_Good. The fucking spy is gone.'_

"Uhm sir.. can you let go of me now?" Gabby asked with hopeful eyes.

Harry considered taking her here right then and there, but changed his mind. He had a lot of work to do to organize his new task force. "Sure." He roughly pushed her off and painfully let her smack against the table. "But remember that you're my girlfriend now."

"Girlfriend..?"

"Oh yes, at least in public. Our relationship will serve as an example to show that I mean business concerning the change of rules."

"But.. umm.. why me? Why not get a real girlfriend? The Second Fleet has plenty of women." She looked at him shyly and with a healthy dose of fear. "I'm tired, sir. Can't you let me go?"

"What are you talking about, dear? Didn't you swear to be my little slave forever?"

She frazzled a little, backing off as if afraid he might hit her again. "I'm sorry, sir."

Harry waved her away. "I fucking made you mine. Forget about freedom. Now get back to work."

"Yes, sir." Gabby left the conference room in tears. She couldn't imagine spending years alongside Harry. _'He's too rough.'_ While she kept herself together throughout her torture, she didn't know when she had enough. The persistent abuse wore down her mind in ways she couldn't predict.

* * *

Kaiden had spent some time observing Captain Potter and his motley crew of escapees. What he found was a paradox. Despite the fact that the boy had zero knowledge in spaceships and leadership, he nevertheless managed to survive this long and achieve great feats. Already the entire fleet was excited by the spread of medi-gel once the science department started to cultivate the substance en masse. This provided the Cerberus Task Force with a lot of positive attention, something Kaidan felt ambivalent on. _'Harry is nothing but a punk.'_

As a dutiful Second Fleeter, he relayed his feelings and suspicions to Admiral Mikhailovich, and recommended he move to replace the amateur with a more professional commander.

"Captain Potter has too much support for me to be able to depose him without repercussions." The admiral told him through the comm link in Kaidan's private quarters. "Besides, he may have inadvertently demanded plenty of rope to hang himself. If he's as incompetent as you say, he'll be out of the commander seat in a few months."

It chafed Kaidan that his warnings weren't taken seriously, but orders were orders. He observed the enigmatic captain, tracking him as best as he could and on the lookout for any subversive actions. So far, Harry hadn't done anything overtly rebellious. Still, the small changes he instituted were certainly meant to mock and defy the Second Fleet.

Already the Cerberus Task Force received scores of new transfers, some of whom were openly displaying their affections. It became so bad that Captain Harry reluctantly forbade such public displays in work areas and when the crewmen were on duty. That brought back some professionalism, but in the cramped interior of a space ship, privacy was never guaranteed.

The second provocation was the change in appearance. No longer did everyone dress in Alliance uniforms. Instead, Harry designed a new set of clothes which prominently featured whites and blacks. The ships themselves were coated in white at a significant cost of barter.

If that didn't prove Harry's ineptitude, his staffing decisions for his two new frigates took the cake. The _SSV Rotterdam_ and the _SSV Gettysburg_ were two aging Mass Effect-capable frigates of different configurations.

The _Rotterdam_ was a reliable missile frigate that could launch devastating disruptor torpedoes that bore right through an opposing ship's kinetic barriers. However, the amount of space the torpedoes, missiles and launchers occupied meant that the ship had less space left for other armaments, making it vulnerable in close range.

This meant that the _Gettysburg_ was the only ship in the task force suited for knife-range fights. With stronger barriers and a hefty barrage of front-facing mass accelerators, she could tear slower ships apart with rapid hit-and-run attacks.

While their relative age eclipsed them from their newer variants, the two frigates were still extremely valuable. Not just anyone deserved the responsibility of captaining these two ships. That made Harry's appointments more grievous.

The officer lucky enough to receive an appointment on the _Gettysburg_ was Lieutenant Kai Leng, an elite but reckless marine with a penchant for violence and slaughter. Despite his elite N7 designation, too many of his subordinates ended up as collateral damage in his lust for killing Batarians. Like Captain Potter, Leng had very little knowledge in running starships, but apparently the disgraced marine managed to convince the boy to hand out a captaincy. Kaidan wasn't quite sure why Harry chose Leng, though he had a few suspicions. _'Harry overlooked several officers with better qualifications, including his own navigations officer. He's not looking for aptitude. He's only interested in loyalty.'_

At least Captain Armando-Owen Bailey brought some experience and age on the table. His long career in service of the Second Fleet included a stint in a variety of combat fleets before he accepted a cushier job at the Alliance Military Police. Bailey served there quietly for fifteen years until his corruption was exposed. Faced with irrefutable charges of fabricating evidence and roughing up suspects, he was pushed into retirement, until Harry brought him back from the deep end. Whilst Bailey was disliked by much of the top brass, he still enjoyed a modicum of respect from the lower ranks, providing Harry with a second pillar of support.

With three unhinged captains in charge of three irreplaceable ships, Kaidan had little faith in the continued existence of the Cerberus Task Force. In fact, it made him fear for his life. _'Captain Potter will be the death of me.'_

He tried feeling around the _Cerberus_ for similar sentiments, but most were resolutely loyal to the captain. The new recruits that were assigned to the _Cerberus_ saw a posting there as a new opportunity. This left very little room for critical voices.

Only Ashley Williams, a fellow Second Fleeter, had the courage to speak out openly against Harry's decisions.

"What do you want, Lieutenant Alenko?" Ashley said suspiciously as she entered his quarters. As Harry's chief of staff, he merited a private room for himself.

"Nothing formal. I just want to talk."

"Talk, huh?" Ashley immediately went at ease and plopped her body on a spare chair. "What is it you want to talk about, then?"

"Where does your loyalties lie?"

The question went right at the heart of the matter. Ashley frowned and crossed her arms. "I serve Cerberus."

Her words said much. She said Cerberus, not Captain Potter, so he didn't owe her complete devotion. On the other hand, she didn't mention Admiral Mikhailovich or the Second Fleet either, which gave Kaidan pause.

"What is your disposition regarding the Second Fleet?"

"Are you questioning my loyalty, sir?" Ashley bit back with a glare.

This did not go down the way Kaidan anticipated. He spread his hands and tried to calm her down as best he could. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I just want to know if we can still count on you."

She turned her head away from the chief of staff. "I don't agree very often with Captain Potter, but he's right in one thing, you know. Admiral Mikhailovich was out of line when he conscripted the _Cerberus_ and her entire crew. You're forcing people from different fleets to serve the Second."

"Williams, you know it was the right decision. A ship like the _Cerberus_ won't survive by herself out in the frontier. Sooner or later a Batarian patrol or pirate frigate would have overtaken you. The Second Fleet can offer you protection."

"You could have asked, but you didn't give us any choice in the matter. That was a real smooth idea. Your admiral single-handedly lost all respect in our eyes. Now is there anything else you want to ask, or can I go now?"

"You are free to leave, Lieutenant Williams."

The woman stood up and gave him a mocking salute before storming off. Kaidan sat back in his chair and contemplated the exchange. _'I made a mistake. I should have waited until the anger cooled off.'_ Quite frankly, the biotic understood Ashley's position. As detestable as Captain Potter may be, he had not given any of his crew a reason to doubt his sincerity. The same could not be said for Mikhailovich. The ongoing feud between the two egos only fueled the division.

Yet he understood the admiral's position and continued to support his rule. The truth of the matter was that his fleet started to deteriorate more heavily than others. The hundreds of human-built civilian ships were starting to rust and malfunction. The pleasure cruisers, bulk cargo haulers and mining ships were all designed with an operational life of fifty years at most. Stretching that to four times their limit took a toll on even the most robust vessels.

With the dwindling supply of other human ships to cannibalize for parts, the future of the Second Fleet lay in acquiring more Batarian vessels. These ships were superior to human-designed vessels in almost every way, though their technology base was radically different from human pre-war technology, preventing the Alliance Remnant from recycling parts between human and alien-built ships.

Unlike other fleets, the Second started out with fewer military vessels intact. The severe imbalance between military and civilian ships dragged down the Second Fleet, making it unable to make as much offensive actions against the Batarians as other fleets. Over the years, the lack of spoils and prize ships eroded the Second Fleet into an untenable position.

'_I'm sorry Williams, but Admiral Mikhailovich is right. For the greater good of the Systems Alliance, we need to acquire more ships.'_

The admission didn't ease Kaidan's conscience, and as he felt a migraine coming to the fore, he doubted the painkillers would do the same. The burden was too heavy for him to bear alone. Yet so long it was his job to keep Captain Potter in line, he would do his duty.

* * *

**End Notes:** No comment.


End file.
